The Broomstick Premise
by Neuropsych
Summary: SG-1 and Harry Potter crossover! Just for fun
1. Chapter 1

**The Broomstick Premise**

_So! A new Harry Potter crossover with SG-1. This should be pretty much in good fun, but since stories tend to wind around and end up in a different area then I intended when I start them, we'll just have to see where it goes, eh? Make sure you've read my other Harry Potter stories before you read this one, or you're going to be lost! Also, there are SPOILERS to the seventh Harry Potter book in here, so if you don't want spoilers, read that book first._

_Disclaimer: I'm not making any money on this story and I'm only borrowing the characters, I don't claim to own them._

OOOOOOOO

Sam Carter shut the book and looked over at her CO, who was sprawled on the other side of the couch with a mostly untouched beer near at hand and his Beretta in several pieces in front of him on the coffee table. He looked over at the sound of the book closing and at the motion – since she hadn't moved in well over an hour.

"Finished it?"

"Yes."

"And…?"

"There's no mention of you."

He looked back down at the piece he was cleaning.

"You didn't really expect there to be, did you?"

She shrugged.

"You _did_ kill Voldemort…"

"And I'd prefer no one actually read about it, really."

She frowned.

"I just thought there'd be something… not under your _real_ name, of course, but at least-"

"A dashing Air Force officer from the states rushing over to save the day for the entire wizarding community?" O'Neill snorted, amused. "How would Rowing add that in and manage to make it sound like a good story?"

"_Rowling_," Sam corrected automatically – although she had a feeling he'd made the mistake on purpose. "And I guess if you put it that way…"

"Did she bring Sirius magically back to life?"

"No. He's still dead in this one."

"And that's the last one?"

"It's _supposed_ to be. One for every year Harry and the others are in school."

"He's going to be in his sixth year this year, isn't he?"

Sam smiled.

"She can't help the fact that Voldemort rushed the final battle before she'd planned for it to end. Besides, she promised everyone seven books, so she had to deliver seven and draw them out."

"So how did it end, then?"

"Harry kills him."

"Heroically?"

She shrugged and nodded.

"Pretty much."

"Good."

Jack hadn't bothered to read any of the Harry Potter stories. Not because he didn't like to read, and not because they weren't available, because Sam had all of them – including this brand new one that had been sent to Jack by Sirius only a few days before – but because he just wasn't interested in them. He knew the story better than most Muggles – pretty much _all_ of them, for that matter – and he had been a part of it.

Even that had been more than he'd wanted, really.

"Want to know who she marries him off to?"

Jack scowled, looking over at her once more.

"You're serious? He's married?"

"The last part skips _way_ into the future – he even has kids."

"Not with _you_?"

She smiled, knowing he was teasing her.

"No."

"Not with Teal'c?"

Now she chuckled, and set the book down on the coffee table in front of her.

"You should read it."

"I don't need to."

"It's not bad."

"I remember you thinking otherwise when they killed off Sirius…"

Sam rolled her eyes.

"Because I thought it really had happened."

"Well, I-"

He was interrupted by a flash of light from his fireplace. There wasn't actually a fire in the thing, since it was summer, but it suddenly lit up as though someone had started a blaze with about a gallon of lighter fluid or gasoline. Neither of them even started. Since the death of Dumbledore, it was pretty much commonplace for such a thing to happen and sure enough the light signaled the entrance of Fawkes down Jack's chimney and into his living room.

The phoenix gave a sharp cry of greeting to them both and did a crazy aerial swoop that showed off his belly and legs to them. His way of telling them that he had a message for someone. It squawked again, and landed on the coffee table in front of Sam since there wasn't any room for him in front of Jack. When Carter reached for the note, however, the phoenix chirruped gently and placed his sharp beak between her and the message.

"It's for you," Sam told him unnecessarily.

Jack scowled.

"You know, _she's_ my second in command…" he told the bird. "She can read my mail if she wants."

The phoenix just watched him, and Jack sighed and reached for the message. Which put his hand _way_ too close to that beak – even if he knew nothing was going to happen to him. As carefully as he could, he untied it, and Fawkes flared his wings immediately and flew to the perch Jack had built for him in one of the corners of the room.

"Who's it from?" Sam asked, curiously, as he unrolled the small piece of paper. His expression went from annoyed to interested and then right back to annoyed.

"Harry."

Which wasn't enough of an answer to explain the expression on his face. She knew Jack liked Harry. Which meant there was more to the letter than just a hello.

_"And…?"_

Jack scowled, and handed her the little note. She took it and read it – and grinned, which only made his scowl deepen.

"You're going, right?"

"No. We have a lot of stuff here to take care of and Hammond-"

"Teal'c's going to be so excited…" she said, ignoring him.

"I'm not going, Carter," he repeated.

"You gave him your word, Colonel."

"That I'd go _visit_, not the rest of it."

"It'll be fun."

"No it won't."

She smiled.

"So you're going to tell him no?"

"Yes."

"Face to face?"

Now he hesitated.

"I can write him a letter…"

"He'll be disappointed. You know he's been looking forward to this for months."

Jack sighed. She was _really_ good at saying exactly what he didn't want to hear.

"Fine. We'll go."

Sam smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Just a reminder; if you haven't read my other Harry Potter Crossovers, you probably need to read them before reading this one!_

OOOOOOO

"How long are you going to be gone, Colonel?"

Hammond hadn't really complained about SG-1 going on some downtime – Lord knew they deserved a little time off, after all – but he _did_ want to know how long they planned to be gone so he could worry if they didn't show up on time.

Jack shrugged, ignoring the way Daniel was practically dancing beside him with unbridled excitement at the thought of another visit with the wizard world.

"Depends on what they want to do, sir," he replied. "I've noticed that most of them don't seem to have any concept of schedules…"

Which wasn't exactly true, Sam knew. Although it wasn't far off when it came to some of them, because none wore watches or carried any kind of timepiece that she'd ever seen.

"Harry is visiting the Burrow before school starts and he wants to spend some time visiting before he goes back to Hogwart's," she said. "We might get a chance to see Diagon Alley."

"And I will have an opportunity to find a magic wand," Teal'c added.

Like _that_ was supposed to make Hammond feel any more cheerful about letting them go? Jaffa and _magic_ didn't mix.

"Which almost certainly won't work for you," Daniel pointed out.

"Perhaps."

Jack glared over at Daniel.

"Don't start…"

It was bad enough Teal'c had been proven right about the existence of wizards, the last thing he needed was to have Teal'c trying to get a wand. He was hoping they wouldn't manage to make it as far as the wand store – or any _other_ wizard store, since who knew where that would lead?

"Sorry."

"When are you leaving?" Hammond asked.

"I'll contact Sirius as soon as you clear the leave, and then they'll send a message."

The general looked over at Fawkes, who had perched himself on his normal roost – a shredded leather chair – when he'd followed SG-1 into the briefing room. The bird tended to come and go as he pleased – which annoyed Hammond, even though he knew there was nothing Jack could do to stop it. Magic birds with minds of their own weren't something O'Neill's military training had prepared him for, after all. Neither had Hammond's.

He nodded.

"Contact Sirius, then, and let me know what you hear."

"Yes, sir."

"You can use the time between now and then to make sure that all your paperwork is finished before you leave."

Bah.

"Yes, sir."

OOOOOOOOOO

It hadn't taken long to send the message off. For one thing, writing wasn't all that difficult, and for another Daniel was actually eager to tie the message to the phoenix's leg which saved Jack the usual half hour of trying to avoid the sharp beak while at the same time get a little piece of paper tied to the delicate leg Fawkes was always willing to present to him.

"You know…" Daniel said, admiringly as the phoenix simply vanished in a blast of fire, leaving a single feather to float gently to the floor of Jack's office. "You're the only man in the world who has an actual _phoenix_ carrying his messages."

Jack wasn't so impressed. He rather wished Harry had a _telephone_ so he could simply give Sirius a call and ask them about coming to get him. That would cut back on how much paperwork he had to do in the time between when Fawkes arrived at Sirius and Harry's and when they managed to send a note back. Of course, Fawkes was a lot faster than any of the owls, which was a good thing, so if they got lucky, Sirius or Harry would send the reply back with him instead of using Hedwig.

"He's the only one with a phoenix, period," Sam pointed out, bending over and picking up the feather – which was warm to the touch.

"He's not mine," Jack told them, taking it from her when she handed it to him. He was _always_ leaving feathers. Jack figured he'd be naked in less than a year at that rate.

"He lives with you."

"When he's _there_… mostly he's off doing whatever it is that exotic birds do."

"It's still amazing," Daniel said, stubbornly.

The bird himself really _was_ amazing and Jack couldn't deny that, so he didn't bother trying. Instead, he nodded his agreement.

"He sure comes in handy when I need to start my fireplace."

Sam snorted, amused. Fawkes might be called a firebird, but she had yet to see her CO use him to light a fire – she doubted it was even possible.

"Let me know when you hear back from him."

"Where are _you_ going?"

"I have some work of my own to get done before we take leave."

"As do I," Teal'c told him.

Jack looked at Daniel, hopefully, but the archeologist knew they were clearing his office so that he could actually get his work done before they left.

"Sorry, Jack. I have some items to catalogue that I've been trying to get to for days. This is a good time to do it."

O'Neill scowled, looking over at the stack of paperwork in his IN box while the others filed out of his office. Grumbling, he went over and sat down, looking at the feather in his hand instead of picking up a pen.

"If he was as magical as everyone says he is, you'd think he could at least figure out how to do my paperwork…"


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: Sorry about the wait on this. It wasn't for the lack of wanting to post, it was just that I was too busy to write._

OOOOOOOO

A loud bang outside his window woke Jack from a very nice dream later on that night. A dream that had included a fishing hole that had an unending supply of steelhead that were at least as long as his arm and fought like tigers on the end of the line. He jerked his head from the pillow, quietly, and looked over at the clock.

It was almost 3am. Much later than he'd originally thought it was.

He listened in the dark for a moment, trying to figure out whether the noise he'd heard posed a threat to him or the house, or if it had simply been a car backfiring – which wasn't unheard of and had pulled him from a sound sleep more than once and had him reaching for his gun in his nightstand.

There was silence for a moment, long enough that he relaxed a bit and put his head back on the pillow, but the sound of someone walking through the old leaves that hadn't been raked the year before near his garage brought his head up once more and now he _did_ reach for the Beretta, opening the drawer quietly and pulling the gun out. He slipped out of bed without making a noise and moved to the window, careful not to allow whoever was outside to see him.

A murmur of voices told him that whoever it was out there was an idiot – at least if they were trying to be quiet they were. He couldn't hear what the voices were saying, but the time of night and the fact that there wasn't anyone ringing his doorbell told him that whoever it was still almost certainly didn't belong in his yard.

A flash of light and a shower of false sparks right beside him about made him jump out of his skin – and almost made the Beretta in his hand go off. Which would have been unfortunate, since it was pointed down near his feet. He glared over at the phoenix, certain now that whoever had been out there was gone – without him having a chance to find out who it was.

"Are you out of your _mind_?" he hissed, still whispering just in case they weren't really gone. "I could have shot you…"

The phoenix didn't seem all that concerned, and since Daniel had told him the bird was pretty much immortal Jack could understand why. He rustled his feathers and moved his very long tail feathers so they weren't hanging over Jack's bed.

"Get off my pillow or I'll cook-"

Another noise from outside brought the threat up short and the Beretta back up.

"Jack?"

The voice came from right outside his window, and he recognized it almost immediately. He went over and opened the curtain – and found Sirius Black standing out there, wearing one of the outfits he'd gotten while hanging out with SG-1 the year before.

The wizard grinned at him in the light given off from yet another set of false sparks given off from Fawkes. A set that might not have been so _false_, really, since Jack thought he could smell scorched feathers – and had a feeling they were coming from his new pillow.

He opened the window with the hand that wasn't holding the gun, and Sirius crawled in easily.

"Are you crazy?" Jack asked him, turning on the light. "Someone could have seen you sneaking around out there and called the police."

Sirius shrugged.

"I would have apparated before they found me."

"Do I even _want_ to know what that means?" O'Neill asked, putting the gun away and sitting down on his bed.

"It's when we appear out of nowhere."

Yeah. He hadn't wanted to know.

"Is everything okay?" Jack asked him, figuring that there must have been a reason the guy showed up in the middle of the night instead of waiting for morning. "Is Harry-"

"We're fine," the wizard was quick to reassure. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was so late." He made a wry face. "It's daytime at home."

"You need to get a watch," Jack told him, looking around for a shirt. "What's going on?"

Sirius smiled.

"We're here to bring you to the Burrow, of course."

O'Neill looked around.

_"We?"_

"Arthur Weasley was with me right up until we got to your garage. Then he stopped to take a look at the black thing that is sitting beside it. Trying to figure out what it is, you know…"

Since the black thing sitting beside his garage was his old barbeque, Jack wasn't too worried about the father of the Weasley tribe getting himself hurt looking at it.

"How are we getting there?"

"Where's Sam?"

"I'm assuming she's home _asleep_," Jack said, pointedly. "She might be at the mountain, but I doubt it."

She didn't have any projects that would require the constant watching that would make Carter spend the night on the uncomfortable pull out cot she kept in her lab.

"We should go get her," Sirius told him. "And the _others_, too, of course," he added.

"Of course." Jack shook his head. "If we can't wait until a decent time-"

"We're here, now," the wizard interrupted. "If you leave Arthur here too long everything you own will be torn apart while he tries to figure out how it works."

"I'll call them all and have them come here."

"But-"

Jack held up his hand.

"It might not be a big deal to go get Carter and Daniel, but popping into the mountain for Teal'c would be a disaster – and _not_ calling him and inviting him to come along would be a bad idea. He's really looking forward to this."

Sirius nodded.

"All right, then. We'll have them meet us here." He looked at Fawkes. "Are you going to send him for the others?"

Since Jack had no intention of trying to tie three different notes onto the phoenix's leg, he shook his head and reached for the phone on his nightstand.

"I'll call them."

"On a telething?"

"Tele_phone_."

Sirius grinned.

"Hold on, then. Arthur's going to want to see this."

Jack sighed. Wizards.


	4. Chapter 4

It was an advantage of having a team of people who worked on the edge so often that they woke up fairly quickly and assembled without making too much of a hassle out of things, Jack decided less than an hour later when Teal'c showed up on his doorstep to join Carter and Daniel – both of whom had arrived within fifteen minutes of his phone call. The Jaffa greeted Sirius with a nod and looked over at Arthur Weasley curiously, since the other wizard was staring at Jack's toaster, infatuated.

"Has General Hammond called?" Teal'c asked.

Jack nodded, ignoring the yelp from Weasley when the toast in the toaster popped up, startling him.

"We need to check in when we know more about when we'll be back."

He didn't mention that Hammond hadn't been pleased at being woken up, and had mumbled a total agreement with Jack's earlier comment about the wizards not having schedules.

"Molly is pretty much in charge of what we're going to be doing," Arthur told them, walking over with the toast in his hand, uncertain what to do with it now that he'd made it. "We're certainly going to let you do whatever you might like to do, but if there's nothing in particular you want to see, then we'll end up doing whatever she plans…"

Jack shrugged, looking at the others to see if anyone had any complaints. None of them looked annoyed, and Teal'c actually looked a little eager – which was saying something for that expression to be on a Jaffa.

"We're pretty open, I suppose."

Weasley smiled.

"Good. Are we ready to go then?"

The others nodded, and Sirius pulled out a bag of floo powder.

"Who's first?"

"Better send _Carter_," Jack said, looking over at his second in command. She was the only one who'd ever had a problem with that method of travel.

Sam frowned, but stepped forward, looking at Weasley.

"Just say 'the Burrow'," he told her as she took a handful of powder from Sirius' bag.

"If something goes wrong, I'll come find you," he promised her with a broad grin.

Her smile was wry.

"Thanks."

A moment later she was gone, followed by Arthur, Daniel and then Teal'c.

"After you," Jack told Sirius, figuring it was his house and he'd be the last to leave. Not that he didn't trust Sirius; it was just the way it was.

The wizard grinned and vanished, and Jack looked at Fawkes, who had been watching them from his perch.

"Are _you_ coming?"

The phoenix made an odd nose and turned away, and Jack shrugged and headed for the fireplace with his handful of floo powder.

"If you change your mind you know where to find me."

With that, he was gone, too.

OOOOOOOOOO

A moment later, he tumbled out of a large fireplace and into a very tidy – and crowded room that was warm and bright with sunlight streaming from several windows.

"Jack!"

Teal'c had been standing close at hand and reached down to help him to his feet, but Harry Potter was right there, too, along with several others – including the Weasley kids, who Jack had met and spent a little time with the day after he'd killed Voldemort.

He smiled, offering his hand to Harry and another smile to the others.

"Hey, Harry. How have you been?"

The boy was smiling cheerfully – which was a lot better than the way he'd looked when he was living with his aunt and uncle. Clearly Sirius was a much better choice of guardian for the boy. Add in the fact that he'd already greeted Sam and the others, Harry was in a very good mood – and had even managed to grow about an inch or so since Jack had seen him last.

"Great."

"Good."

Jack looked around the room, curiously. This was really the first wizard house he'd been in – aside from the places that he'd been held captive at various points of time by Voldemort or his minions, and he wouldn't have called them very homey. This place, however, was clearly a home, and well lived in.

"Are you and your friends hungry, Colonel O'Neill?" Molly Weasley asked, shooing her children out of the way.

"I'm starving," he told her with a grateful smile. "And call me Jack."

The others nodded as well – it was almost breakfast time back home – and Molly beamed.

"We'll eat outside since it's such a nice day." She turned to her twin sons, who were the oldest of the brood still at home. "You lot go set up the tables. Ron and Harry can show the others around."

"There's not enough room here for all of you," Arthur told them as the kids separated a little more. "So Sirius brought over a camping tent for you. There should be plenty of space for you all – and whoever might want to sleep out with you, provided you don't mind their company."

"A tent?" Jack echoed. Great. He didn't mind camping, but-

"There's a lot more room than you think, Jack," Harry told him, smiling. "It's magic – and we bought it brand new, so it doesn't even smell funny."

O'Neill looked at the others, but Sam was smiling as well, and Daniel just looked resigned. Teal'c had wandered over and was looking at a large clock with Molly Weasley explaining something to him, so he clearly didn't care where he was going to sleep later.

"Okay."

The Weasley home didn't seem to be nearly big enough for the large family that lived there, but it was comfortable, and smelled like whatever was cooking in the kitchen. The rooms looked like any other rooms Jack had seen, although the pictures had people moving in them and the nick knacks were a lot more interesting than the ones he'd seen in other people's houses – including the very few he had in his own.

When they all went outside, Jack saw the twins setting up the tables and Molly, Arthur and their youngest bringing out plates and other utensils for whatever meal they were about to have. Judging from the smells emanating from the kitchen, it wasn'tbreakfast.

"Here's the tent," Ron told them, gesturing unnecessarily at the small pup tent that had been set up near what was clearly a garden.

Jack looked back at Carter, who didn't seem at all disturbed about the small thing they were supposed to be sleeping in. Magic or not, they weren't going to all fit in it, that was certain.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me…"

Since he only said it loud enough for Carter to hear, she held back a little as the others crouched down and headed into the tent.

"It's going to surprise you," she assured him, still smiling. "Trust me."

Which of course, he did.

With a resigned sigh, he leaned over and followed Teal'c into the tent – and stopped so suddenly that Sam actually ran into him and almost knocked them both over.

"Holy crap."


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: I really am sorry about the wait on this. I started a new job and just haven't had any time to do anything but work both jobs lately. Hopefully things will calm down a little in a while!_

OOOOOOOOO

Carter smiled at her CO's incredulous look.

"I told you it was bigger than it looked," she said, unable to keep from saying I told you so.

He shook his head. The place was bigger than his house on the inside. There was a large dining area – complete with a huge table and plenty of chairs – a living room with a fireplace and several sofas and comfortable looking chairs, and a kitchen that had a stove, refrigerator and lots of cupboards.

"This is insane…"

He turned and left the tent, looking at it from the outside. It looked exactly as it had; incredibly tiny and cramped. Sam and Daniel both joined him outside, and Daniel was just as impressed – and not bothering to hide it.

"Magic, huh?" he said, bending over and looking back inside the tent.

Jack nodded.

"Yeah."

"Too bad we don't have this for when we go offworld…"

This time O'Neill shook his head.

"Offworld it'd be just a tent, most likely. Magic doesn't work offworld, remember?"

Daniel shrugged. _He_ actually had forgotten that Dumbledore had told them that, but that had been a couple of years ago, so it wasn't that big a surprise that he didn't remember. And not that big of a shock that Jack did, since anything that could be an advantage to his team was something he'd have considered long before.

"It'd still be nice to have…"

"Yeah."

They went back inside, and found that the place also had three other doors. One led to a large bathroom, the others led to two bedrooms.

"You guys will have to share," Arthur was telling Teal'c. "But there are plenty of beds."

"And a couch for Daniel," Harry said, smiling. "Since he snores."

Jack grinned and they all noticed that while Daniel shot Harry a censoring look, he didn't deny it.

Arthur looked over at the others.

"Will it be okay?"

"Of course."

It was as good as being at home – without the bird chewing on his throw blankets.

The wizard smiled, cheerfully.

"Let's go eat, then."

OOOOOOOO

"You're going to love this, Jack…" Harry told him, digging into the meal with enthusiasm typical of a teenager.

He wasn't the only one; the Weasley boys were all eating hungrily as well. SG-1 and the other adults weren't devouring their meal, but only because they had more manners. Molly was a good cook, after all, and the lunch she'd laid out for them was more than satisfying – even though breakfast would have been more appropriate for the time of day they'd left less than an hour before.

"Love what?" he asked, turning his attention from watching Sirius – who had finagled the spot between Carter and Daniel and was now flirting outrageously with O'Neill's second in command.

Sirius grinned, sharing an amused look with Arthur Weasley, who turned back to his meal almost immediately with a slightly guilty look at his wife.

"We're going to teach you guys how to fly," Sirius said.

There was a pause. All of them looked over their meal at Sirius, who was enjoying the effect of his simple statement.

"I beg your pardon?" Daniel asked, first to get his voice back.

"We're going to teach you to fly," Harry said, his face alive with excitement.

"On broomsticks," Ron explained.

"Broomsticks?" Sam echoed, frowning.

Sirius nodded.

"Yup."

"How is that possible?" she asked. "We can't fly on broomsticks. Only wi-"

"We charmed them," Harry said. "Well, not _me_, because I can't do magic away from school, but Sirius and Mr. Weas-"

"Let's not worry about that right now," Arthur said, quickly. "We'll finish eating and then we'll go."

"Go?" Daniel asked. "Go where?"

"We're going to go use the Quidditch field at Hogwart's," came the reply as calmly as if he'd said they were heading down to the store on the corner to buy some bread.

"It's the only place we'll be able to fly without worrying about being seen by Muggles," Sirius told them, munching on a piece of baked ham. "Minerva's already given us the go ahead, and Flitwick has double checked the charms spells to make sure they're going to work the way they're supposed to."

"You are certain this will work?" Teal'c asked, and Jack was a little surprised to see that the Jaffa actually looked uneasy. Not scared – although he never would have recognized that emotion on Teal'c since he'd never seen it before – but definitely uncertain.

"Definitely."

"It'll be fun, Jack," Harry said, looking over at him, hopefully. "You did say you wanted to learn to fly."

"I already know how to fly," Jack told him.

Sirius smiled, knowing that Jack was going to learn to fly on a broom because Harry wanted him to – and Jack would do anything for him. Who better to know than Sirius? He was in the same boat, after all.

"This is a lot more fun than one of your airships, Jack," he told his friend.

"_Airplanes_," Jack corrected, looking over at Carter. "What do _you_ think? Should we try it?"

She smiled and shrugged.

"Why not? What's the worst that could happe-"

"Don't even _finish_ that sentence," Daniel interrupted, holding up his hand. "Nothing good happens when someone says that."


	6. Chapter 6

The meal was finished fairly quickly since food didn't last all that long when there were teenagers around to devour whatever the adults didn't want. They offered to help Molly clean up, but a wave of her wand sent everything into the kitchen where dishes could be heard clanking gently together as they washed themselves and the few leftovers that there were went into the refrigerator.

"How are we going to Hogwart's?" Daniel asked. "Floo?"

"We're going to apparate into Hogsmead," Sirius answered, reaching out and taking Sam's arm in his own. "Just make sure you hold tight." He reached for Harry as well, who grabbed his arm, and the three of them suddenly vanished with no more than a loud crack to announce their departure.

One of the twins – Jack didn't know them well enough to be able to tell them apart – grabbed Ron's arm while the other took hold of Ginny's and they, too, vanished. Arthur looked at Teal'c and offered him his arm.

"Molly can take Daniel and Jack, but you'd better come with me."

The Jaffa raised an eyebrow, but moved over and took Arthur's arm in a firm grasp. An instant later, they were gone.

"That never gets old…" Jack said, shaking his head.

Molly Weasley chuckled and offered an arm to each of them.

"Ready?"

Daniel took her left, Jack took her right.

"Hold on tightly," she warned them.

Both tightened their grips noticeably. A moment later the back yard vanished and almost instantly they found themselves standing outside a small building, with Carter, Teal'c and the others all waiting for them.

"I like that better than floo," Sam told them with a smile as they joined the small group.

"It's as fast," Sirius told her. "And not as messy."

"Let's get to Hogwart's," Harry said, grinning. It was clear he couldn't wait for the lesson to begin.

"I would like to take the opportunity to look around the village," Teal'c replied. The chance to visit an all wizard town was pretty compelling – especially for someone who was from another planet altogether.

"You should visit Honeyduke's," Ginny told him. "I could take you there."

"Not alone," Molly said – a pure reflex from a much more dangerous time when the Deatheaters were roaming the wizard world with impunity.

Ginny rolled her eyes in typical teenaged girl fashion.

"Mom, no one's going to do anything dumb here…"

Especially not with Teal'c beside her.

Mrs. Weasley didn't look too reassured, and Arthur smiled at her.

"I'll go with them. You can go up to the castle, and we'll be along in a while."

She looked relieved, even though the look she gave Teal'c was apologetic. He bowed in agreement with the idea, unwilling to put anyone through a lot of effort just because he wanted to snoop around for a while.

"Sure you don't want to come learn to fly with us?" Daniel asked, looking around just as curiously, but unable to figure out a polite way to ask them if he could join them and forget the broomstick lesson. Harry looked way too excited about the lesson and with Teal'c already bowing out; Daniel didn't want to disappoint him further.

"I will catch up."

They parted ways, then, and as Ginny and Mr. Weasley headed into the closest store – with Ginny chatting excitedly – the rest of them started walking up the main road toward the wizard school.

OOOOOOOOOO

The school wasn't all that far away, but they didn't get far before the sound of hoofbeats pulled everyone's attention towards the Forbidden Forest, which followed loosely along the road. Several centaurs trotted up to them, large and as forbidding as the forest they lived in. The group stopped and waited for them, and Jack found he recognized most of them.

"Jack O'Neill…"

The one in the lead towered over Jack – but then so did all the others. O'Neill wasn't intimidated; the centaurs had long since proven they were friends. He smiled openly, honestly glad to see them.

"Zip! Where are your brothers?"

"Here and there," the centaur answered. "I will tell them you asked about them."

Jack nodded.

"You do that."

"You are going to the school?"

He nodded again.

"Yes."

"For _flying_ lessons?"

Now O'Neill scowled, because Zip's expression was a mixture of amusement and uncertainty. Probably worried Jack was going to fall on his head – but hoping not to miss the spectacle himself.

"So they tell us…"

"Would you mind if we joined you?"

Hah! He was so right! Jack kept his expression carefully neutral when he answered, allowing an eyebrow to raise like Teal'c did so often.

"Do they make broomsticks big enough for you guys?"

Zip wasn't the only centaur to snort in amusement – as did most of the group of humans.

"We just want to watch, Jack O'Neill," the centaur told him. "It'll be interesting to see if a Muggle can learn magic."

"It's not exactly teaching them magic," Molly Weasley told them – just as Sirius had opened his mouth to say something similar. "More like introducing them to the magic of our world as intimately as we can without endowing them with magic."

Daniel looked over at Molly.

"You can make someone magical?"

"No."

"Yes." Zip disagreed. Several of the centaurs nodded their agreement.

"Not without killing them," Sirius said.

"They-"

"We're going to teach them to fly broomsticks," Molly said, interrupting the conversation with a tone that said she didn't want to hear anything more about it. "We owe them that much at least."

"And more if they asked it?" one of the other centaurs asked, his own tone more of a challenge.

"We don't want anything," Jack said. "But you guys can come watch. If I fall, though, I fully expect at least one of you to try and catch me."

There was more amused snorting – the centaurs really _did_ sound a lot like horses, sometimes – and Zip turned so his side was presented to O'Neill. He leaned down and offered him his hand.

"Hop on. We'll save you the walk."


	7. Chapter 7

There was a first time for everything, and this was the first time Harry had ever arrived at the gates of Hogwart's on the back of a centaur. It wasn't the first time he'd ever ridden one, but this had been the longest trip by far – and there hadn't been any terrifying circumstances that had preceded the ride – which meant he had been able to actually enjoy the experience, and the very novelty that came with riding a creature that most people wouldn't even admit existed.

They reached the school quickly, even though the centaurs weren't moving all that quickly, and the gates opened automatically for them. Without stopping the centaurs moved into the school grounds and stopped in front of the small group of people that were waiting for them just on the edge of the quidditch pitch.

Jack slid down from Zip's back easily and Minerva McGonagall stepped up as soon as he was clear of the centaur and reached out her hand.

"Jack, I'm glad you could come."

His smile completely without sarcasm or irony, Jack took her hand in his.

"It's good to see you again, Minerva. How are things going?"

"We're gearing up for the next school year to start," she told him, taking her hand back and smiling at Sam and Daniel as they came over with the others. "Where's Teal'c?"

"He couldn't resist snooping around Hogsmeade for a while," Sam said, greeting McGonagall with a warm smile.

"Arthur and Ginny are with him," Molly said, being helped down from the broad back of the centaur who had carried her. It was easy enough to ride when your mount was able to warn you to hold on, but the centaurs were large, and getting off wasn't so easy.

"He said he'd catch up," Harry added.

Minerva nodded, and looked over at Jack once more.

"So. Ready to learn to fly?"

O'Neill tried to look excited for Harry's sake, but his expression must have shown his reluctance, because Minerva smiled once more.

"Don' worry, Jack. We're not going to let you fall off."

"We should have brought a net," Zip said.

Jack scowled.

"You're not helping, Zip."

"Sorry."

Of course, his expression didn't look sorry at all, but Jack ignored that and looked back at Minerva.

"What do we do?" he asked.

The smallest man Jack had ever seen in person stepped forward.

"The broomsticks have been charmed to work for you and your friends, Colonel O'Neill. We've used only the best racing brooms, made exclusively for you…"

He waved the wand in his hand and suddenly four broomsticks were whizzing toward the group. Three of the four stopped, one in front of Jack, one in front of Carter and one in front of Daniel. The fourth one wobbled around, looking confused if a broom actually could show that type of feeling, and the little man waved his wand once more, bringing that one to his side and setting it gently down on the grass beside him.

The broom in front of Jack nudged him slightly and O'Neill hesitantly reached out and took it in his hand. It was warm and felt like it was almost alive – which didn't make any sense since it also looked a lot like a broom.

"Wow…" Harry said, coming over to look at the broomstick in Jack's hand. "That's pretty nice."

"It looks like the ones in the movies," Sam said, admiring the broom she was holding.

The brooms were nice. They were all made of dark wood, with nicely trimmed twigs at the back and brass stirrup looking things that were obviously designed to give the rider a place to put their feet. On the handle Sam could see a number that was probably the registration number and the word Firebolt right near the top.

"Look at the bottom of the handle," Sirius told her.

"Which part's the-" she cut off when she noticed what he was talking about, and smiled. At a spot right before the brushy end started her name was engraved on the handle in gold. Samantha Carter.

"Wow…"

Sirius smiled at the expression on her face, glad that she liked the gift.

"We were going to put your rank, but since that can change, we didn't…"

"It's great, Sirius," she assured him. "Thank you."

"You know…" Jack was looking at the handle of the broom, as impressed by the look of the thing as Daniel and Sam were, but he'd spotted a flaw in the thing. A big one as far as he was concerned. "This doesn't look like the most comfortable thing in the world to sit on…"

Minerva smiled, but it was Flitwick who replied.

"All is not as it seems, Colonel O'Neill. You don't actually make contact with the broom handle when astride it. There's a cushioning charm on it that allows you to hover just above the handle – which is why it's very important that you hold on tight and keep your feet on the bracers."

Jack didn't look convinced, but Harry looked way too excited for him to back out this late in the game.

"He's right, Jack," Sirius told him, easily reading the uncertainty in his friend's expression. "I ride them all the time and I'm fine."

"Yeah…"

Zip snorted again, and Jack flashed him another annoyed look. The centaur smiled broadly, clearly enjoying himself at Jack's expense.

"What do we do?" Daniel asked, more than willing to try the thing – he was always willing to try new things, after all. Even more than Sam.

"You mount it," Harry said. He pulled out his wand and pointed it toward a little shed that was close by. "Accio Firebolt!"

The door opened and a broomstick that looked a lot like the ones they were holding emerged, flying directly to Harry and stopping in front of him, ready to be ridden and actually quivering as if the crazy thing was excited at the thought of going for a spin, so to speak.

"Watch me," he told them, mounting on his broom, putting one foot on the brace on the far side and leaving the other one the grass for balance. "See?"

Jack looked close and saw that Harry's rear wasn't touching the broom – although it was really close to it.

Sam and Daniel both swung their legs over their brooms, and Jack watched as Daniel settled himself, watching for signs of discomfort. Carter wouldn't have the same issues, so she wasn't really the one to watch, he knew. When Daniel didn't wince, Jack gingerly put his own leg over the broomstick and settled his foot on the brace on the other side. He felt something stop him from touching the handle – something that wasn't hard or wooden – and settled a little more comfortably, relieved. Then he looked over at Harry once more.

"Now what?" Daniel asked before Jack or Sam could.

"Lean back on the end of the handle and will it to go…"

Jack frowned.

"Will it-"

Daniel leaned back and the broomstick took off like it'd been shot from a cannon.

_"Arrrrghhhhh! Jaaaaaaaack!"_

The panicked scream went from very loud to very soft immediately – proof of just how fast Daniel was going.

"Oops!"

Harry took off, a lot more controlled than Daniel had been, and an instant later he was a mere speck in the sky above them. Jack looked over at Minerva, unable to hide his concern.

She smiled.

"Don't worry. If he falls we'll make sure he doesn't get hurt."

"Just make sure you hold on," Sirius told them. "It's a rush. You'll see."

Uh huh.

Jack sighed and leaned back just a little, sort of willing the broom to go. Less than an instant later, the thing shot into the sky – with Jack holding on with both hands to keep from falling off.


	8. Chapter 8

It was easy. It was almost ridiculously easy. The broomstick was a bit awkward for him – being more used to having an entire jet around him when he flew – but it was far more responsive than even the fastest and most agile fighter he'd ever been in. The Firebolt shot into the air, leaving Jack breathless for only a moment before the adrenaline kicked in and made him give a somewhat audible whoop of exhilaration. He turned slightly to the side, automatically adjusting to avoid Carter – who was swooping by so fast she wasn't much more than a blur – and the broom turned a complete circle, doing a barrel roll. The amazing thing was, he didn't even feel like he was going to fall when he was upside down. Whatever kept him from actually sitting on the broom handle itself must also have some kind of sticky spell, he decided, because his butt never came off the cushion of whatever it was that he was riding on.

"Alright there Carter?" he asked, twisting in the air and heading back her way.

She grinned.

"Great, sir!"

The two of them were natural pilots, used to the way flying made them go upside down and into sometimes very awkward positions. Flying a broomstick really wasn't all that different they were finding. Flying was flying – no matter how you were doing it, apparently.

Daniel, on the other hand, was _not_ a natural – and not doing nearly as well. True he wasn't crushing or pinching his more tender areas on the broomstick he was sitting on, but that was only scant comfort when he was grasping the handle of the broom with not only both hands, but both arms and shoulders and any other part of him that could hold tight to the crazy thing. It seemed to be trying to go in every direction at once, and Harry hovered as close as he could, shouting out advice that the archeologist either didn't hear or couldn't use. Not when he was upside down half the time and well aware of just how high up he was.

Maybe flying hadn't been the greatest idea, after all…

Jack swooped by, narrowly missing him it seemed – although anyone else would have seen that he'd been several yards away – and right behind him came Sam. She stopped near Harry, grinning and breathless, and watched as Daniel tried to pull himself back upright.

"He won't fall off…" Harry told her, watching as Jack circled underneath Daniel, just in case he needed to try and catch him. "Professor Flitwick charmed the brooms to keep that from happening – just in case. He'd have to be on the ground before he can get off."

Sam nodded, pleased that someone had thought of the extra safety idea. She couldn't help but be glad it wasn't necessary for her, though.

"Good." She smiled again, looking over at the boy. "This is fun."

Harry's answering grin was wide.

"The first time I ever did it I thought my heart would burst."

"Not from fear?"

He shook his head.

"It was the only thing I was good at."

"I doubt that," she said, flashing him another smile – and then feeling it broaden into a wide grin when he blushed furiously at the compliment.

Harry floundered for a moment, and then turned his attention back to Daniel to get it off him.

"Just try to relax, Daniel!" he shouted. "It's like riding a bicycle… you just have to balance it out."

There was a grunt from the archeologist, who was now hanging upside down completely – although he was still firmly on the broomstick. Jack had risen even higher until he was close enough that he could reach out and grab Daniel's arm, which he did. Pulling him upright, he then hovered beside him, his hand twisted in the fabric of the jacket he was wearing to keep him from slipping.

Daniel was pale with a thin line of perspiration on his upper lip, and he couldn't stop looking down – way down.

"I don't think flying's for me, Jack…"

Biting back a sarcastic answer since the last thing Daniel needed just then was sarcasm, O'Neill simply nodded.

"You're probably right. Ready to stop?"

"I'm ready to _throw up_."

Jack chuckled – although he knew Daniel probably wasn't joking.

"Push down on your front end – just a _little_. That should get you going down…"

Daniel did the best he could, pushing down like Jack had suggested and trying to curb his eagerness to get back to the ground as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, that desire to get back manifested itself in the broom he was riding – one of the reasons that the Firebolt was so highly prized by sporting enthusiasts – and he plummeted.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"How's it going?"

Sirius about jumped out of his skin. He had been so intent on watching the three Muggles above them that he hadn't noticed Hagrid approach – which was really saying something since the guy was huge. Minerva looked over, unruffled.

"Jack and Sam are naturals, apparently."

Hagrid hadn't missed the exclusion.

"And Teal'c and Daniel?"

"Teal'c's in the village," Molly answered. "Daniel's-"

"_Crashing_," Sirius cut in, moving out of the way and bumping into Zip's horse shoulder. The centaur had been watching above as well, and also moved slightly to the side, almost stepping on Flitwick, who had been moving as he watched the sky, too, his wand out but uncertain yet what was needed.

OOOOOOOOO

"Crap!"

Jack had pretty much expected Daniel to go down fast, but he hadn't expected him to go down as fast as he'd gone up. For some reason he'd assumed that spell on the brooms wouldn't allow that. Wishful thinking apparently, because Daniel was gone before O'Neill could even think about reaching out and grabbing him.

He shot the broomstick he was on down towards Daniel, followed closely by Sam and Harry. The boy was much more agile than either of the adults, but Jack had a headstart and managed to catch up to Daniel and grab his jacket once more in hopes of maybe pulling him off his runaway broomstick and onto the one Jack was flying on. Clearly Daniel's was broken or something.

Daniel wouldn't budge from the broom, though, no matter how hard Jack tugged on him. All he managed to do was add momentum to the quick descent and send both of them tumbling end over end in a tangle of brooms sticks and flailing legs and arms. He felt the broom he was on lurch to a stop, felt Daniel finally come off his broom at the same time he lost contact with his own and then the two of them were rolling across the grass of the Quidditch pitch in an even more confused tangle.


	9. Chapter 9

He'd pretty much accepted the fact that it was _really_ going to hurt in a minute when Jack felt something grab hold of him. Something that felt a lot like a great big pillow – only it wasn't something he landed on, it was something that actually grabbed hold of him and caught him and Daniel in mid tumble. They stopped rolling and the only thing that hurt was Daniel's elbow hitting him in the shoulder – and even _that_ wasn't so terrible.

"Are we _dead_?" Daniel asked from on top of him, slightly breathless, but not sounding like he was in much pain.

Jack hesitated, taking stock of how he felt – he didn't _feel_ dead. He didn't even feel a _little_ dead. Then he opened his eyes and saw Zip looking down at him, blocking the bright sunlight.

"If we are, then Heaven has some ugly angels…"

The centaur caught the comment and snorted, amused.

"Are you uninjured, Jack?"

"I think so…"

Daniel shifted, and then rolled off him, looking around as well as he tried to figure out how they'd avoided getting creamed when they hit the ground.

"I certainly don't feel like I fell several hundred feet…"

Minerva came hurrying up to stand beside Zip with the others who were gathering around.

"I caught you with a cushioning charm just as you fell off the brooms," she explained. "Are either of you hurt?"

Daniel sat up, and Sirius handed him his glasses, which had been flung several feet in the opposite direction.

"I thought we weren't supposed to be able to fall off the brooms?" he muttered, feeling like someone had just played a very cruel trick on him.

"When they're in the air," Flitwick told him, looking a little chagrined. "You didn't actually come off until you were in the safety zone – about 6 feet above the ground." He looked at the others and shrugged defensively. "Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to get off when the ride was over…"

"Makes sense," Jack said, reaching up when Sirius offered him a hand up and levering himself back to his feet. Hagrid reached down and bodily picked Daniel up, settling him back on his feet with a slight bump. "Good catch," he told Minerva.

She smiled.

"It wouldn't look good to kill you on your first try on a broom…"

"First and _last_," Daniel told her, running a hand through his hair and looking for any blood that might be coming out of undiscovered head wounds.

Jack looked over at him, not really surprised.

"You're giving it up?" he asked, just as Carter and Harry landed and joined them, looking worried at first and then relieved to see them both on their feet and unscathed. "You only crashed _once_."

"Once is enough," Daniel replied. He looked over at Harry and the others. "I didn't realize how high we'd get…"

Harry looked confused, but Sam nodded her understanding.

"Daniel's afraid of heights."

"Really?" Sirius asked. "Why did you want to fly a broom, then?"

Daniel shrugged.

"I've never _done_ it before – how many people can say they've actually flown on a broom?"

Jack just shook his head with a smile; _he_ hadn't thought of that, he'd just done the broomstick thing because Harry had wanted to teach him so badly. It was just a pleasant sidebar that flying on the broomstick had actually turned out to be not only something that he could _do_, but something that was easily as thrilling as flying a fighter – although the whole dogfight thing couldn't happen on a broom like it could with planes.

"But you're not going to do it again, are you?" Sam asked, still looking the two of them over as if she couldn't believe neither of them had been injured from their plummet.

"Not if I can help it," Daniel assured her.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"You have to try one of these, Teal'c," Ginny Weasley told him, handing the big Jaffa a small frog-shaped candy.

Teal'c looked at it with a frown.

"That is not a chocolate frog…"

The youngest Weasley shook her head with a smile.

"It's a _peppermint toad_. Try it, you'll like it."

The Jaffa took it and held his hand flat, waiting to see if it was going to hop like the chocolate frogs he'd read about in the books did. When it didn't, he looked over at Arthur Weasley, who seemed to understand what he was waiting for.

"They hop in your stomach," he advised Teal'c. "Not until you eat them."

Teal'c frowned and looked back at the youngster.

"And this is enjoyable?"

She smiled again, and shrugged.

"They _taste_ good."

Shaking his head, he handed the peppermint toad back to Ginny, who promptly bit into it and started looking around again, trying to find a treat that Teal'c might actually eat. Of course, since it was still early as far as Teal'c was concerned, candy was really the last thing on his mind – even though he'd accompanied them into the candy store willingly. Only to get a look at it, though, not to sample the wares.

"Here, Teal'c," Arthur told him, reaching over the counter and taking something from the man who'd been standing there watching the few customers that were browsing the shelves.

"What is it?" Teal'c asked, taking the small package. Then he saw that there was a brown frog on the packaging. "A chocolate frog?"

"It's one from the newest series," Arthur told him. "Open it up."

His inexperience with wizard candy showing quite clearly as the frog immediately hopped away from the package, Teal'c was left with just the card. He was surprised by the picture on the front.

"This is O'Neill."

Arthur nodded, smiling.

"He's famous here, now…"

"You know you've made it when you get on a chocolate frog card," Ginny told him, walking back and trying to look at the card and not having much luck since Teal'c was a lot bigger than she was. "_Dad's_ on one, too, now."

"So is Harry," Arthur said. "You'll notice that Jack's picture doesn't move, though…"

"Because you do not have any pictures of him with your special film…"

"Right. They only have the drawing of him – for now. If he wants to allow them to take a picture the candy folks will make the card look better…"

The Jaffa looked down at the card once more. It had O'Neill's name, but the picture really wasn't all that accurate. Just a generic picture of a man with Jack's hair coloring and eyes.

"O'Neill will not pursue the publicity."

"Which is probably for the best," said the man behind the counter, proving he'd been listening in – and proving that he knew who Teal'c was. "Better to keep us separated from the Muggles as much as we can. Colonel O'Neill deserves to be on a card, but we don't want every wizard in the world coming looking for him because he's famous – and I'm pretty sure he'd agree…"

"Indeed."

He couldn't wait to show O'Neill the card, though. He put it in his pocket and continued looking through the store.


	10. Chapter 10

"So…"

Daniel looked over at Jack, who had reached down and picked up his broomstick, checking it out to make sure it hadn't broken. Of course, it was made of far sturdier stuff than that and didn't even have a scratch or dent to mar the finish on the wood.

"So…?"

"Do you care if I go back up?"

Harry smiled, glad that Jack didn't want to quit flying after the first try.

"Do _I_ have to?"

"Nope."

"Then I don't care. I'm sure I can find something to do here on the ground."

Like run around under them with one of those nets.

"Lots of things to do up in the school, Daniel," Hagrid told him. "I could take you."

Daniel looked at Sam, who shook her head.

"I'm going back up."

_She_ liked to fly.

The archeologist wasn't surprised. He looked back over to Hagrid.

"Can we go to the library?"

Which made Hagrid look over at Minerva, who hesitated. The library was probably the most dangerous room in the school for a Muggle – especially an overly curious one like Daniel. That or the potions room, maybe – but the ingredients in _that_ room were locked up, while the library was pretty much open to anyone who went in.

"As long as you stay away from the restricted section…" she finally told him, certain that Hagrid could keep Daniel out of any trouble when it came to the regular books. It wasn't like he could cast any spell he might happen to read or anything.

Daniel nodded.

"I'm just interested in the history, really…"

Big shock there.

Minerva nodded.

"That's fine, then."

Daniel looked over to Jack.

"How long are you going to be?"

Jack shrugged.

"Probably a while."

"I can teach you to play Quiddich," Harry offered. He gestured to the Weasley boys and Sam. "We have enough here to scrimmage, at least."

Now it was Jack's turn to hesitate, but only for a moment. He nodded, looking over at his second in command.

"What do you think, Carter?"

Sam couldn't resist the entreaty in Harry's expression any more than Jack could. She smiled and nodded.

"Sounds like fun."

"I'll be referee," Sirius told them. He threw a sly look over at Minerva. "Unless you want to play and make even teams…?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I have things to do," she replied, wrapping her dignity around her. "When Teal'c gets back with young Ms. Weasley you'll have more players. Until then you'll just have to make due."

"We can play three on three," Harry said.

"We'll get the equipment," Fred and George offered, heading off at a trot for the broom shed.

Daniel just shook his head, unable to understand why anyone could be so excited about something that was far too high off the ground for his tastes.

"You ready?" he asked Hagrid. The sooner he left the better – just in case they changed their minds and decided he needed to play with them.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Is this village normally so active this time of day?" Teal'c asked as he, Arthur and Ginny left the candy store. Ginny had a bag of treats she'd wheedled out of her dad, and Teal'c had several packages of chocolate frogs which he intended to hand out to the others. With any luck there would be another O'Neill card in one of the packs. Otherwise he'd let O'Neill have his if he wanted it.

Arthur nodded.

"It has been lately," he answered. "School's getting ready to start and not everyone goes to Diagon Alley to get their supplies – especially the local kids. It's easier to shop here."

"But not as much fun," Ginny told him, rifling through he bag to find a Peppermint Toad to much on while they walked. "This place is little compared to Diagon Alley."

"But more charming," Arthur added.

"I would like to see Diagon Alley eventually," Teal'c told them. But he was actually just as intrigued by this all wizard town, with its interesting people and all the fascinating things that they had on display in the shops they were walking by.

He came to a stop in front of the window of one shop and actually smiled – a fearful sight, really. The Jaffa looked up at the name of the store and then over at Arthur.

"I want to go in here, if you do not mind?"

Arthur hesitated, but couldn't see any harm in it. There were some things that Muggles _couldn't_ use. Charmed or not. A wand was one of them.

"Sure."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Quidditch turned out to be far more simple than Jack thought it would be. Sure it was played on broomsticks way up in the air. Sure there were always balls being whacked at you, and people trying to knock you off the broom that you were on – although no one really tried all that hard, bearing in mind that he and Carter were new to the whole flying thing and the brooms wouldn't actually allow them to fall off at any rate. But O'Neill and Carter were both used to dog fighting in jets and other flying craft – including a lot of them that had never been seen in the Earth's skies, and Quidditch _wasn't_ much different from a dogfight, really. Just a little less deadly.

Once they got the basics down, they actually turned out to be pretty good. Reflexes that were honed off-world keeping your hide safe were also just as good when it came to avoiding people trying to get by you to score a point or two, and neither of them ever became disorientated by being upside down or barrel rolling so those tricky maneuvers that might have stopped others didn't stop them.

They didn't bother with the Snitch. Harry told Jack what it was for and showed both of them the little winged golf-ball looking thing, but they weren't playing a real game or practicing for a team match, so he decided they'd just focus on the game itself – which was fine with the others.

It was a good time, and even Jack had to admit that Quidditch was kind of fun – not _Hockey_ fun, but not boring by any means. He dodged one of the bigger balls that one of the Weasley twins lobbed at him – the other twin was on his team – and then headed towards Harry to mention that maybe they should actually pull out the little flying ball too.

Right before he reached him, however, a plume of black smoke rose from the direction of the village, catching his eye. He looked over, and that drew everyone else's attention that direction as well – just as the plume of smoke was accompanied by a loud explosion that he could feel the concussion from even as high up as he was.


	11. Chapter 11

It wasn't enough of an explosion to knock them off their brooms from that distance, but it was clear that it was quite the explosion if they could see it from so far away.

"That's the village!" Harry yelled, tearing off in that direction, with the others behind him. Of course, since he had a Firebolt and the Weasley boys didn't, he was well ahead of them in only moments.

Jack and Carter exchanged glances and headed off after him, although Jack had actually intended to land and head that way on foot – or catch a ride with a centaur – and not fly. It just showed that he wasn't all that used to flying around on brooms yet, apparently.

Anxious, too, though, because an explosion wasn't the best of signs – especially with Teal'c in the village – they urged their brooms on as fast as they could go, catching up and passing the Weasleys fairly easily but not catching Harry, who was lighter and far more familiar with the whole broomstick thing.

They caught up to him as he was landing beside what remained of what had probably once been a quaint shop and was now a smoking husk with no roof and a lot of dark smoke pouring from the top, making it look a lot like a chimney rather than a shop. A fair number of people were heading toward the building as well, but O'Neill was still only watching one person.

"_Harry!"_

Jack wasn't above thinking that the whole thing was a trap and Harry was a prime target for that.

The boy hesitated, looking up, and probably figured out what Jack was thinking. At least, he stayed where he was until Jack and Sam both landed as well. By that time, however, the crowd that had been gathering swarmed all three of them, their voices interested but not all that concerned. From what a couple of people were saying in the back of the gathering, Carter decided that this wasn't really all that unusual.

"What was this place?" Jack asked, watching the crowd cautiously more out of habit than any real concern. Voldemort was dead and Jack didn't figure that any of his other followers who might have escaped that final battle had the guts to face a whole village of wizards.

"The wand shop," Harry said, looking around, too. "I wonder what happened…"

As if in answer to that question a pile of rubble near the door was shifted out of the way from the inside and four very mussed people appeared at the doorway. Covered in soot, it wasn't easy to identify all of them, but there was no mistaking the big Jaffa who was trying in vain to brush the rubble off his previously clean shirt.

"Teal'c!"

Sam hurried forward as Jack and Harry recognized Ginny and Arthur Weasley, but neither of them knew the older man in the black robes that were just as dusty as the ones the Weasleys were wearing, but didn't show up as clearly because of the color.

Teal'c nodded to tell them he was fine, but Jack managed to get a peek inside the building when they walked up. It was a disaster.

"What happened?"

"The wand chooses the wizard…" the older man said. "And those who it will not allow to hold it."

Jack frowned at Teal'c.

"You were trying to get a wand?"

Teal'c managed to look annoyed without changing his expression a bit.

"I merely wanted to try one."

"And it blew the place up?" Sam asked, curiously. "Why would it do that?"

The Jaffa sniffed, and moved away without answering. Of course, he probably didn't know why it had – and since she knew that he'd really wanted to try the whole wand thing it was probably quite a disappointment for him.

"I don't know," the owner of the shop – for that was who he was – said, looking around a little stunned. "It's happened before, but not for a very long time – and never so violently."

"I'm very sorry, Julius…" Arthur Weasley said, his own clothing bearing singe marks and a layer of dark soot as well. "I can help you clean it up…"

The shop owner waved away the apology and the offer of assistance.

"No worries, Arthur. I'll have it back right in a jiffy. You'd better take Ginny and your friend and get cleaned up."

"We will."

"And next time he wants to try out a wand, I suggest Ollivander's."

With that, he turned and pulled out a fine looking wand of his own and started casting charms left and right, putting things back together and righting those things that had only been tipped over.

"Teal'c tried a wand?" Harry asked Arthur as they walked toward Hogwart's, following Jack and Teal'c, who didn't look back to see if they were coming.

"He tried several of them," Arthur told them. "I don't think he had any hope that he'd actually find one, but I'm pretty sure Julius wasn't expecting the wands to go crazy like that."

"_Wands?"_ Sam asked.

OOOOOOOOOO

"They look much like they are described in the books," Teal'c said, finally, speaking only after they'd left the village and the smoking ruins of the wand shop behind.

"Do they _blow up_ in the books?" Jack asked, unable to hide his sarcasm – although he toned it way down out of self-preservation. Teal'c was a lot bigger than he was, after all.

The Jaffa didn't scowl, however. He just shook his head.

"I have never heard of such a thing happening, O'Neill. I just assumed that if they would not work for me nothing would happen."

"You shouldn't really be all that surprised, T," Jack told him. "Remember what Dumbledore said about magic from here not working on other planets? It's not that big of a stretch to think that a guy from another planet would be instantly rejected by the magic here…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that, and his expression made it clear to O'Neill that he probably hadn't even considered it.

"You make a good point, O'Neill."

"Of course I do. I'm a smart guy, after all. Right?"

The Jaffa chose not to answer that.


	12. Chapter 12

The library at Hogwarts was everything Daniel had expected it to be. Filled with huge shelves that were bursting with books of every size shape and color, it was both impressive as hell and also a little intimidating. From everything he'd read about this place, there was a lot of knowledge in this room. A lot of dangerous knowledge. His eyes automatically wandered towards the section that was separated from the rest of the room – the restricted section – and he felt a shiver of what was either elation or fear, he couldn't figure out which.

"That's the _restricted_ section, there," Hagrid told him. "Can't go in there, remember…"

Daniel shook his head, breaking the train of his thoughts with the motion.

"I don't want to," he assured the large man. "Do you have anything like a _history_ book?"

Hagrid nodded.

"The place is full of them. Wizard history or Muggle?"

Daniel frowned.

"You have _our_ history here, too?"

Even as he said it, though, he remembered reading in one of the books that the school actually taught a class on the study of Muggles.

"Everyone's," Hagrid told him. "I took the Muggle class myself, actually." He hesitated and then shrugged. "_Most_ of that year, anyway."

Daniel didn't reply to that, figuring it had something to do with Hagrid getting kicked out of Hogwarts. Instead, he started to turn the focus of the conversation back to the books, and then remembered something that had made him curious earlier.

"What did Minerva mean when she said that people could be made magical?"

Hagrid frowned.

"The only way people can be magical is to be _born_ that way – Muggle or otherwise."

"What about _Squibs_?"

He'd read that in the books, too, but it really didn't seem to be what Minerva and Zip had been talking about. What they'd mentioned sounded dangerous; the books had merely mentioned Squibs as being wizards who hadn't been born with magic.

"They're never _really_ wizards," Hagrid scoffed. "They just learn some basic tricks, pretty much. At least that's how I understand it." He smirked. "You'd have to ask Filch about that, really."

Since Daniel had never spoken to Filch before – and hadn't heard anything to discount the man's reputation in the books for being unpleasant – he didn't intend to do any such thing.

"How about a _wizard_ history book, Hagrid?" he asked. "Could you help me find one of those?"

Hagrid smiled, glad that Daniel had changed the subject to something he was more familiar with.

"Sure, Daniel."

OOOOOOOOO

"What happened to _you_?"

Molly Weasley met the group at the door to the castle, and immediately fussed about how they looked. Of course, since they all looked singed, sooted and just a little charred, they probably deserved a little fussing.

"Teal'c blew up the wand shop."

Jack ignored the annoyed look the Jaffa shot him. Molly took a closer look at her husband and only daughter, well aware that Teal'c was indestructible.

"Are you all right?"

Ginny nodded, smiling.

"It was fun."

Which made Teal'c look a little less annoyed.

"We're fine," Arthur assured her. "It looks worse than it was."

Mollified, but only a little, she started to say something else when Hagrid appeared at the door. He looked startled to see them, and then chagrined, and was clearly torn between leaving and being polite and acknowledging them. Politeness won out.

"Oh, hello…"

Which immediately made those who knew him best just a little suspicious.

"Hi, Hagrid," Harry said, smiling. "Where's Daniel?"

The big man's cheeks reddened and he coughed slightly.

"I'm not really sure…" he said. "That is to say…"

"He _wandered_ off?" Jack asked, not at all surprised.

"Um… no…"

"No?"

Now Jack _was_ surprised. And maybe a little worried.

"He, um… disappeared."

"I thought he was in the library?" Sam asked.

"He was. _Is_. Was."

"What are you talking about?" Molly asked, a little more annoyed than she might have been had her husband and youngest child not been blown up recently. "Is he or isn't he?"

"Not right now. I'm pretty sure he's somewhere around here, though."

"You're sure he didn't wander off?" Jack asked, moving toward the door to go inside. "He's good at that."

"I was at the door," Hagrid told him. "He didn't go by me. But when I decided to check on him he wasn't in the library."

"What?"

"I didn't hear anything. He had to be in there, but I looked everywhere…"

"Maybe he slipped out when you weren't looking?" Sam suggested.

"He might be looking for a bathroom or something," Jack said.

"Wouldn't he have asked?" Arthur asked.

Sam and Jack both shrugged at the same time.

"It's more fun to discover things on your own… and _Daniel_ likes to do that," Jack told them. "We'd better start looking for him."

"The house elves can help," Molly said.

"So can the pictures," Ginny added. "They can tell us if they've seen him."

"Better split up," Sirius suggested. " The kids can look on their own, but it might not be a bad idea if you guys stick with one of us."

The fact that he hadn't even suggested that he be the one to take Carter proved that he was concerned by Daniel's disappearance. It wasn't like Sirius to miss a chance to flirt, after all.

Jack nodded his agreement.

"You take Teal'c, I'll go with Molly and Carter you're with Hagrid."

Sam frowned and then realized that her CO was worried that there was something more sinister going on than just Daniel wandering off. Which was why she'd been teamed up with Hagrid, who was undoubtedly more than capable of handling himself against anything in the school. Normally she'd been put with Teal'c, but that wasn't an option in this case, so Jack had put her with the next best thing.

"Where should we start?" Harry asked.

Sirius fielded the question since it was the answer was obvious.

"The library. We'll go there first and see if we find any sign of him. Hopefully he's already returned there from wherever he went."

He didn't look all that confident about that, though, and Jack was even less so.

"Let's go."


	13. Chapter 13

Daniel Jackson sighed and looked at the long corridor ahead of him – and then back at the long corridor he'd been walking down.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this…" he muttered to himself, trying once more to figure out where he was going and how the hallway was illuminated when he couldn't see any light anywhere around him. Just one long hallway.

There were other corridors branching off from the main one but Daniel hadn't explored them yet. The walls were a nondescriptive gray and they all looked the same. He was pretty sure that if he made one move to take a left or right turn he was going to end up hopelessly lost in what was almost certainly a maze – or at least felt like one.

"_Hagrid?" _

He'd called the name several times, but no one answered him. Jack was going to kill him – or tease him mercilessly – and that was assuming that they'd ever find him. Who knew how long this passageway was? For all he knew – and he'd read very little, really, about the school – there could be some hideous monster at the end of this trek. A monster that liked scrawny archeologists. Or geeks.

"_Minerva?" _

Faint hope, really. Who knew where _she_ was?

He'd been doing well in the library, minding his own business and looking at the first history book Hagrid had found him. Sitting at a table at the back of the library to assure Hagrid that he had no interest in the restricted section, Daniel had found the handwriting of whatever ancient wizard that had written the book to be small and hardly more comprehensible than some of the ancient ruins he'd found on various digs when he'd been younger.

Of course, he supposed, that only made sense, since this book had probably been written sometime in that same era of the past. Daniel had sighed and pushed the book away, the thrill of reading about an ancient wizard's outlook on the wizard world paling in comparison to trying to decipher the man's handwriting. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and looked at all the books around him.

Which was when he'd noticed the one that was glowing a faint amber color, sitting tucked on a nearby shelf surrounded by hundreds of others that weren't glowing. Looking over for Hagrid, who was chatting with the old librarian, Daniel stood up and walked to that shelf, his eyes focused pretty much only on the book.

_The Price of Curiosity…_ the book's spine read. By S.S. Even better, it was neatly written and quite legible. Probably the easiest read in the place, Daniel decided as he reached for it.

He'd only touched the book when he'd found himself where he was now. In a long corridor with no visible ending. He'd tried turning around first, thinking that he'd somehow been transported through the wall of the library and was now in the next room over, but the wall in front of him was solid and definitely felt real when he touched it with his hand.

Then he'd started walking, thinking that there had to be a way around it, or out of it, and that if he could find the door he'd at least be able to ask someone how to get back to the library – or have them go find Hagrid and bring him to wherever Daniel was. But he'd been walking for a while now and not only had he not found anyone, he hadn't found a door or window or even one of those moving pictures.

He finally stopped, not tired, but realizing that as long as he'd been walking and hadn't actually arrived anywhere, there was definitely something magical about where he was. Which meant that he wasn't going to get out by regular means.

"Okay," he said, looking around and wondering if it was some kind of joke. "I get it. _The price of curiosity_. Clever…"

Even as he said it, the light in the corridor dimmed and the hallway filled with an odd smoke. Daniel stepped back, immediately assuming it was something he didn't want to be in the middle of, and held his breath.

And then found it caught in his throat as a shape appeared out of the mist and looked at him.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The library was a pretty impressive place, Jack decided. Huge and filled with books of all shapes, sorts and descriptions. A place that Daniel would have loved.

"Why would he wander out of here?" Sam asked, obviously thinking the same thing that her CO was. "This place is amazing."

And if it was amazing to _them_, someone like Daniel would likely have wanted to set up shop here.

"No idea, Carter."

With Teal'c beside him and the others spreading around to look for any indication that the archeologist had returned while Hagrid had been gone talking to them, Jack wandered around the library.

"This is the restricted area," Teal'c said, gesturing to a section of the library that had an actual barrier across the entrance, keeping people from wandering in without permission.

"Think he went in?" Sam asked.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Jack had to admit. He looked over at Sirius. "Are there any traps in there for people who shouldn't be there?"

"What do you mean?"

"He means would something have zapped Daniel if he'd gone into the restricted area without permission?"

Sirius shook his head thoughtfully.

"Not as far as I know."

"However, you have not attended this institution for several years," Teal'c pointed out. "It is always possible that things could have changed in that time."

"Dumbledore never would have allowed-"

Before he could finish, there was a commotion at the door and Minerva made an appearance. She looked around, saw them gathered at the edge of the restricted section and hurried over.

'I was just informed that Daniel has come missing," she told them, but it was more of a question than a statement.

Sirius nodded, looking up as Hagrid walked over as well.

"We were just wondering if there are any spells that might have been activated if Daniel wandered into the restricted section," Sam told them both.

The Headmistress shook her head.

"We don't punish our students with magic," she replied. "When school is in we manage the library quite closely to make sure the students don't go where they're not allowed." She looked at Hagrid. "Did Daniel go into the restricted section?"

"He only looked at it once," Hagrid said. "Then started reading one of the history books."

"Where?" Jack asked.

"Over there."

Hagrid gestured over to the table Daniel had been seated at the table in the rear of the library, and they all walked over, looking around.

"What's this?" Sam asked, her attention caught by the same glowing book that Daniel had noticed.

"What?" Minerva asked, even as Jack walked over and looked at the book as well.

"Why's it glowing?" O'Neill asked, frowning.

Sirius frowned, too, looking over his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"The glowing book…" Jack told him, forcing himself to keep the sarcasm to a minimum – although he couldn't stop it completely.

Minerva looked as well, but shook her head.

"I don't see a-"

"It's right _here_," Jack said, reaching out to grab it and show it to them.

"Sir! Don't-"

It was too late, though. Jack's hand closed on the book's spine, and immediately he found himself in a long, blank hallway.

"What the hell?"


	14. Chapter 14

There was a moment of absolute silence in the library, with everyone staring at the suddenly empty spot that Jack O'Neill had been standing in only a moment before.

"Where did he go?" Sirius asked, breaking the stunned silence and sounding just as shocked himself. Of course, having someone vanish right in front of your eyes wasn't normal – even for a wizard. At least, not unless they apparated – which Jack didn't know how to do.

"He touched the book…" Sam said, starting to reach for it as well – purely out of reflex – when Teal'c grabbed her arm to stop her.

"That would not be wise, Major Carter," he told her.

She nodded, a little chagrined that she'd almost fallen into whatever trap Jack – and maybe even Daniel – had so readily fallen into.

"Thanks…"

"You say this book is glowing?" Minerva asked, looking at the book that Carter had almost touched.

Sam looked over at her.

"You don't see it?"

"I see the book," Minerva corrected. "But it isn't glowing."

"It's green," Hagrid agreed.

Sirius frowned.

"It's blue," he disagreed. "But I definitely isn't glowing. It doesn't even look all that extraordinary."

"Not something I'd be all that interested in," Hagrid said.

Minerva frowned, looking at the book once more.

"It's purple," she told them. "And you're right about it being ordinary."

"Why would we all be seeing the book in a different way?" Sam asked, genuinely confused. Something that didn't happen all that often to her, really. "Magic?"

The Headmistress shrugged.

"It's possible."

"Or it could be a trap of some kind," Teal'c said.

Sirius frowned.

"A trap? It's probably been in the library since before I attended school here," he said. "What could it possibly be designed to trap?"

"Something that shouldn't _be_ here?" Sam suggested.

"Such as Muggles," Teal'c agreed, not surprised that Carter had figured it out so easily. Assuming that was the answer.

OOOOOOOOOO

The figure was tall, but not overly so, lean but not emaciated and shrouded in a black cloak with a cowl over the head, hiding the features so Daniel couldn't really be sure he was seeing a man or a woman until it actually spoke. Especially since there was still a lot of fog or mist in the corridor.

"Prove thy blood…"

The archeologist frowned. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear – although he wasn't really sure what he _had_ been expecting.

"Excuse me?"

Now the figure threw back the cowl, revealing a gaunt but not ugly man who looked to be somewhere in his late sixties.

"Prove thy bloodlines, or leave this place."

"My-"

The man pulled a small stone from under his robes and held it out to Daniel.

"Take it. Prove thy bloodlines."

Automatically he took the stone, which was a dull red color, and looked at the man.

"What do I do with-"

"_Begone_!"

Before Daniel could even wonder what in the world was going on, he felt himself being jerked by his middle – and recognized the feeling immediately. A moment later, he found himself outside – in the middle of what had to be some kind of forest, because he'd never seen trees as big and ancient looking anywhere settled. It was quiet and the sunlight barely filtered down through the thick canopy of leaves above him.

He looked down at the rock in his hand and then around him once more. There were rustling sounds off in the distance, but aside from that he was alone. And who knew where?

"You've _got_ to be kidding me…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"If this is some kind of joke I'm not amused…"

Jack waited for someone to start chuckling, but it didn't happen. The hallway continued to be the weird glowy color it had been since he'd popped into it. He scowled, and turned back toward the solid wall that was behind him.

"Seriously…" he said, reaching out and feeling to see if the wall was solid – which it was. "_Not_ amused, at all."

Since he wasn't really expecting a reply by then, he didn't stare at the wall long. Instead, he turned back to the hallway, and was surprised to see some kind of mist forming in front of him.

A moment later the man Daniel had just met was now facing Jack O'Neill, looking just as mysterious and shadowed. Jack wasn't impressed.

"And you are…?"

The man ignored him.

"Prove thy blood."

"What?"

The figure took off his cowl once more.

"Prove thy bloodlines, or leave this place."

"Well, if you know where the door is, I'll be happy to leave," Jack told him.

"Take this, intruder."

The man held out a small rock to Jack, who scowled.

"Touching things I shouldn't have is how I got _here_ in the first place," he told him. "I'll pass. But I don't suppose you've seen a guy with-"

"Take it! Prove your bloodlines and I will allow you to live."

"Who exactly are you?" O'Neill asked, pointedly ignoring the stone being held out to him.

"Touch the stone and prove your blood. If you fail, you will only be transported away from here. If you _don't_ touch it I'll kill you where you stand."

"Yeah…" Like he'd never heard that particular threat before? "Good luck with that, Sport."

Much quicker than he'd ever have given the guy credit for being, a wand was suddenly in the other's hand and pointed at Jack.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

The green light shot out of the wand and knocked Jack back into the wall he'd been standing by. The blow laid him flat, and he heard a rustling as the man moved to stand over him, a satisfied look on his expressive face. A look that vanished immediately when he realized that his victim was quite alive. Jack had to admit he enjoyed the reaction – although he could have done without whacking the wall.

"You'll have to do better than that," he told the stunned man, getting to his feet. "I'm not feeling too dead, yet."


	15. Chapter 15

"So what do we do?" Sirius asked.

"I will take the book and go to assist O'Neill and possibly Daniel Jackson," Teal'c offered, looking around automatically for anything he could use as a weapon.

Sirius wasn't the only one to shake his head.

"That's too dangerous, Teal'c," Minerva told him.

"For all we know, they could be dead…" Arthur said, his expression bleak.

"No," Minerva shook her head again. She actually picked the book up to look at it, figuring that it was probably exactly what they'd decided it was. Which made it safe for her to touch – at least she was betting it was. If not, well, she had her wand in her robes and knew how to use it. "The author of this book is S.S. And the mark on the cover…" she turned it so they could all see the snake.

"Slytherin," Molly Weasley said, surprised.

"Yes."

"Why would he make a Muggle trap?" Hagrid asked. "He didn't even think Muggles should be at Hogwart's to begin with." He barely finished the statement when he flushed, realizing he'd just answered his own question. "Never mind."

"He _wasn't_ a killer, though…" Minerva told them. "Not from what I've read about him. I doubt that Jack and Daniel are dead – or even _injured_, hopefully."

"Where are they, then?" Sirius asked.

"And how do we find them?" Sam added.

"_Fawkes_ could find _Jack_…" Hagrid said, scratching his jaw through his scruffy beard. "If we could get him to come to us so we could send a message to 'em."

"The Phoenix does not have a summoning method," Teal'c told them. "How would we-"

He was interrupted by a sudden shower of sparks and a rush of wings. Startled, most of them jumped back, although Teal'c didn't. A moment later Fawkes was hovering above them.

"Wow…" Sam said, shaking her head in amazement. "Neat trick."

OOOOOOOO

He couldn't have wished for a better reaction, really. The guy had been self-assured and cocky and had that same air of superiority that Voldemort had carried – although without the _whole I'm going to take over the entire world and dominate everyone in it_ sort of attitude that Jack's unlamented half-brother had held when he'd interacted with others. Now he was stunned, and a lot more cautious than he had been.

"Who _are_ you?" he demanded as Jack checked the front of his shirt automatically for any holes or rips. Spells weren't the same as gunshots or staff weapon blasts, but it still seemed like it should leave some kind of mark when it hit hard enough to knock him off his feet like that.

"I'd ask you the same thing…"

"Salazar Slytherin."

Even Jack knew that name. At least he did now. It wouldn't have meant anything to him a couple of years before.

"Really? Impressive. Considering he's dead."

"Why do you say that?"

Which made Jack frown, because he didn't actually _know_ that the guy was dead, he'd just assumed he was.

"Because he's over a thousand years old, from what I understand…"

The man gave him a guarded look, but seemed to lose a lot of the aggression in his tone. Probably figured that he'd get more information if he weren't trying to kill him, Jack decided. Which was proven to be at least partially true with the very next question.

"And _you_ are…?"

"Jack O'Neill."

"You're not a Muggle?"

Jack shrugged.

"Actually, as far as I understand the term, I am. No magic, right?"

"Correct."

"Then, yes."

"And yet you survived a spell that should have killed you instantly."

"It's not the first time."

"Really? How is that?"

Now it was Jack's expression that turned guarded.

"It's a secret," he told him, holding his finger to his lips in a hushing motion. "If I tell you, I'd have to kill you…"

There was a stunned silence as the man in front of him realized what he'd said, and then to Jack's surprise he actually laughed.

"I like you, Muggle. It's unfortunate you have no magic – my people would have done well to add you to their ranks."

"I'll take that as a compliment," O'Neill told him. "Now… have you seen a guy about my height, brown hair, wears glasses?"

The man who called himself Slytherin (Jack still had his doubts about that) nodded.

"He had no magic in his bloodlines and was banished."

"What? Where?"

"The center of the Forbidden Forest."

OOOOOOOOO

He wasn't entirely sure where he was, but Daniel was pretty sure that he had somehow ended up in the Forbidden Forest. True it could have been _any_ forest anywhere in the world, but he'd been in forests before and he'd been in the Forbidden Forest before and he knew there was definitely something unique about the Forbidden Forest that made it feel as different from a regular wood as a wizard was from a regular person. Not better, really, just different.

Magical.

He turned toward the brush to his left, aware that all sounds had stopped completely – as if the entire forest was holding its breath to watch.

And jumped back when an impossibly large snout came out of the bushes, followed closely by a scaled head that held a pair of yellow eyes that narrowed when the creature saw him. Smoke wafted from the nostrils as the creature sniffed, but Daniel found that he couldn't even move after the initial shock had worn off.

It was a dragon, after all, and bigger than Daniel could have ever imagined.


	16. Chapter 16

He'd been in life and death situations before. True, he'd never been in the middle of a forest – completely alone – with a dragon looking at him as if he were some kind of delicacy, but he'd been in worse situations. He was just having a lot of trouble thinking of any of those situations just then. For that matter, he was having a lot of trouble thinking about much of anything at the moment.

_Run!_

It was almost as if he heard Jack yelling at him – his voice annoyed and disgusted that he'd leave himself standing out in the open like some kind of rookie. Daniel bolted for the closest cover – followed immediately by a roar of fury and a jet of fire that singed him as he dived behind a large rock.

"Oh, crap…" he muttered, looking around frantically for some kind of weapon – _anything_ – or someplace to run. _Anywhere_.

The problem was that the only thing close at hand were rocks, and they weren't that big and they weren't going to do much of anything when it came to facing down a dragon. Probably a hungry dragon at that.

The ground seemed to shudder and Daniel forced himself to his feet, his heart racing. Another roar – this time much closer – and the rock he was hiding behind suddenly slammed into him as the dragon ran right into it, ignoring the weight of the stone and too dumb to consider going around it after his prey. Daniel was knocked back, only a the last moment having the presence of mind to jerk his leg out of the way – and yelped when the rock still scored against his right leg, a sharp edge tearing his pant leg and ripping a gash along his calf.

He didn't stop to take a look, though. The rock was still moving and that meant that the dragon was distracted. He chanced a look over his shoulder to make sure and all he saw were a lot of dust, grass and dirt flying in all directions as the rock yielded to a force stronger than gravity and a flash of green and yellow scales. Daniel scrambled toward the trees that were agonizingly close, his leg throbbing in time to his heartbeat and the sound of the dragon's continuing attack on the rock ringing in his ears.

Certain that the dragon wasn't going to be distracted by the rock all that long, Daniel continued his plunge into the forest. He wasn't sure what he might run into – and didn't even care. Nothing could be as dangerous as the dragon, after all.

OOOOOOOOOO

The phoenix came to rest on the table that Daniel had been sitting at, his feathers dripping sparks on the ancient wood.

"We need to find Colonel O'Neill," Sam said, more to the bird than the others, although she didn't have a clue how to get Fawkes to go find Jack – or figure out how to get him to understand that it was important they figured out where he was. "How can we use him?"

Minerva stepped forward, looking at the bird speculatively.

"We could place a locater charm on Fawkes. If he finds Jack we can follow the charm to his location."

"Like a bug."

The wizards all looked at each other uncertainly.

"A mechanical device employed to emit a beacon that allows others to follow the one who is carrying it," Teal'c explained.

"Oh." Minerva looked at Flitwick, who shrugged.

"I can do that," the short wizard said. "If the phoenix is willing. It'll take a minute to find the right spell, however."

He was already heading over to one of the bookshelves, while the others watched impatient but unwilling to annoy him by urging him to hurry up.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Are you out of your _mind_??" Jack snapped. "The center of the Forbidden Forest? Why would you do that?"

"I didn't," the man told him. "The stone did. He-"

"Give me that rock," Jack told him, interrupting and grabbing the stone out of Slytherin's hand before the wizard could pull it away. There was a hesitation, while the rock continued to glow he same dull red that it had when Daniel had held it only forty-five minutes before. Then it flared to life, a bright red glare that made Jack gasp and jerk his arm up to protect his eyes.

Slytherin's eyes widened in spite of the bright light.

"You told me you were a _Muggle_."

"I am," Jack told him, realizing that the rock wasn't doing what it was supposed to. "Why isn't this stupid thing working?"

"It is." He wizard took the stone back, and I continued to glow. "It's a test – of sorts."

"I'm _not_ a wizard," Jack told him. "The talking hat already said so, okay? Now get me to the same place that you sent Daniel and-"

"It tests a _bloodline_," Slytherin interrupted. "Not magic ability." He looked down at the rock, which had once more subdued into a soft glow. "You have wizard blood. That's why it won't transport you. You belong _here_."

"Well I'm not staying _here_. Send me to the same-"

"I can't."

"What are you talking about?" Now Jack was just plain mad. Who knew what was chasing Daniel? The Forbidden Forest was filled with all kinds of things and the chances were a lot better that Daniel would run into something dangerous than he'd run into something friendly. "You're _Slytherin_, remember? You can do magic and-"

"I can do magic _here_. Where my memory is." The man shook his head. "I'm a shadow, Jack O'Neill. A memory. Here to test those who dare go where they don't belong and to send those people where they won't be able to steal the secrets of my people."

"But-"

"Here, _only_," the wizard told him. "_I_ can't send you anywhere. No one can. Not from this castle. The protections are too powerful."

"But the rock…"

"It holds the power of one of my greatest spells," Slytherin said. "But it's the rock and not me. Except in this hallway – and apparently not against you."

"Then get me out of here. I'll find him myself."

"That I can do."

There was a flash of light and Jack suddenly found himself in the library once more.


	17. Chapter 17

With his imagination providing plenty of sounds of pursuit, Daniel stumbled through the forest as fast as his injured leg would allow him to move. His breath coming in hitches as he tripped over underbrush and struggled through unforgiving brambles and thorns, he finally ran headfirst into a low hanging branch and knocked himself flat, stunned.

Laying in the loam, his side one giant stitch and his leg and head throbbing in time to his racing heartbeat, he couldn't gather his thoughts enough to even be afraid, really. All he knew was that he'd been attacked by a dragon and had managed to survive – and hoped that nothing else too vicious would dare live near the same territory as the dragon did.

When he finally caught his breath a little, and the stitch had begun to fade a bit, Daniel sat up – and almost passed out. He was light-headed and pretty sure that he was in shock from both the injury to his leg and the blow to his head. He put his hand up to his forehead and it came away bloody. It was a wonder he hadn't lost his glasses, he decided, pushing them into place and pulling his shredded pants leg aside so he could get a look at his leg.

It was as bad as it felt. Raggedly cut and scraped, there wasn't a lot of skin left in an area at least the size of two of his hands and was still bleeding freely.

"At least it didn't bite me," he mumbled, ripping the pant leg off and binding it tightly around his leg to use it as a bandage to slow the bleeding. Between his head and his leg it was no wonder he was feeling light-headed. He looked around, his imagination once more making him nervous, because now it seemed the forest was far too quiet. Of course, he wasn't a forest dweller, really, so he wasn't sure exactly how it should sound, but he was pretty sure there should be birds or something – and maybe insects. He looked up and noticed that the sky was beginning to darken. Of course, his watch was still set on Colorado time, but it was still pretty early for the sun to be going down.

Then it started raining and he realized why the sky was murky so early. He would have sighed, but the situation was far too serious for that. He was lost, alone in a forest that was even more dangerous than most – there weren't any dragons running around in the woods around Cheyenne Mountain, after all – and he was hurt. He didn't know which direction to go, where to look and couldn't really chance staying where he was, because for all he knew the dragon was going to be able to follow his trail and would come looking for him.

With that unhappy and very alarming thought firmly in mind, Daniel heaved himself to his feet and started stumbling in the growing darkness, trying to ignore the pounding in his head, the aching in his leg and the steady trail of rain water running under his thin and completely soaked shirt.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Sir!"

Carter was the first to react to the sudden appearance of Jack O'Neill back in the library, but certainly not the only one. The others made startled sounds, and Flitwick dropped the book he'd been leafing through. Only Fawkes seemed unperturbed by the sudden reappearance of O'Neill – and the phoenix gave him a warbling cry as a greeting.

"Jack," Minerva said, studying him carefully to make sure he hadn't come to harm. He didn't look injured – although he certainly looked agitated. "What happened?"

"The book's a trap," O'Neill told them. "We need to find Daniel."

"A trap?" Arthur repeated. "How?"

"Slytherin was there…"

"In the _book_?" Minerva asked.

"In the hallway," Jack told them. "He tried to get me to take a rock from him – something about proving my blood, but then I told him off and he tried to kill me."

There was a collective gasp, even though they could all see he was alive and well – although impatient and upset.

"Are you sure it was Slytherin?" Molly asked. "You don't know what he looks like, after all."

"None of us do," Sirius said. "We only have pictures… and none of them are all that great."

"Did you see Daniel?" Sam asked, turning the subject to where it needed to be. "Was he-"

"He was banished," Jack told them. "Slytherin told me that the rock sends Muggles to the middle of the Forbidden Forest."

"Slytherin told-"

"We've got to find him," Jack interrupted before Sirius could ask him any question about Slytherin. "I'll tell you all about it on the way."

"On the way where?" Sam asked as they headed toward the door to the library.

"We need to find Zip."

Who would know the Forbidden Forest better than the centaurs? Not to mention they were faster than running – and Jack knew he wasn't good enough on a broomstick to fly through all the branches and trees. God knew he'd end up running into a tree or something and knocking himself into next week.

"I'll go find the kids," Arthur said. "We'll meet you at the front gate."

He and Molly headed one direction and the others followed Minerva toward the front hall.

OOOOOOOOOO

He didn't make it much further. The way was darker by the minute and his teeth were chattering from shock and cold. Delirious from the head wound and the pain that raced from his calf up through his thigh and groin and into the pit of his stomach, Daniel wasn't even certain what direction he was going or sometimes even who he was. He finally stumbled into a clearing that was sheltered from the rain by a heavy screen of branches and leaves overhead and fell to the ground, unable to get up even though his mind was screaming that he needed to do just that. His body wasn't willing or able, and he was soon unconscious, face down in last year's leaves and less than twenty feet from a small cave he hadn't even seen.

A curious snort came from the cave, and a silver nose poked out from the warm interior. A moment later the occupant of the cave emerged, looking at the intruder with a mixture of uncertainty and curiosity. Another snort, this time a challenge. The form on the ground didn't move, and didn't pose a threat.

The creature walked over and studied the fallen man another long moment. When he still didn't move, it pushed him gently, still tense and waiting for some kind of threat. Daniel moaned in his delirium, but aside from that he didn't say anything. A satisfied snort and another nudge, and then the creature lowered itself beside the injured archeologist, leaning against him.

Daniel didn't know what was going on around him, but he felt the large warm body near him and instinctively scooted closer to it, one hand coming out and pressing against that warmth. The creature snorted again, gently, and nuzzled him for just a moment. Long enough to lull Daniel into a restless sleep, where he dreamed of dragons and crushing rocks – and a large, dangerous horn only inches from his face.


	18. Chapter 18

It didn't take them long to find their way out of the school – even with the staircases that kept moving around and making things difficult. Minerva and the wizards were all used to that, of course, and nothing phased Teal'c – at least not visibly. Jack and Sam were the two who were chafing by the time they reached the door, and Harry and the others joined them only a moment later.

"Where'd he go?" Harry asked, breathlessly.

"Middle of the forest is all I got," Jack told him, shrugging and looking at Minerva. "How do we find Zip and the others?"

Minerva – and all the others – turned to Hagrid. Not surprisingly, since _he_ was the expert of the group when it came to the forest.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Hagrid told them. He looked up at the sky, which had been sunny and warm, but while they'd been in the school, clouds had gathered and were now over the forest and heading their way with every sign of a gully washer coming toward them. "But it's mighty dark in the Forest when it's cloudy like it's getting. I don't think know how much luck we're going to have. Dangerous place to be stumbling around in when you can't see where you're going."

He looked pointedly at Harry and the other under aged wizards, and Minerva nodded her understanding as she looked at them as well.

"Potter, you and the Weasley children will stay here."

They reacted immediately, and predictably.

"But Professor-"

Minerva held up her hand to stop Harry before he could even start.

"You're not coming, Potter. That's final."

"But-"

"It's too dangerous."

"I've been in the Forest before! Daniel might need help and-"

"_And_ he'll have it," she interrupted. "But you lot will stay here and wait in the library on the off chance that he ends up back where he started." Stranger things have happened, after all. "If he shows up, you can send word."

"But-"

"She's right, Harry," Sirius told him, shaking his head. "He might show up, and if he does, he might need help. Someone has to be here just in case."

Harry started to protest again, but when he looked at Jack he knew that no matter what he said, between him and Sirius they'd both keep him where he was. Even worse, Mrs. Weasley was already reinforcing McGonagall's command to stay with one of her own, so the Weasley boys (and Ginny) weren't about to come to Harry's aid in the argument. With a frustrated sigh, the boy finally nodded.

"Fine."

He was still teenager enough to allow his resentment to show, though. Unfortunately, it didn't bother Sirius or Jack a bit.

Jack looked back at Hagrid.

"How do we find Zip?"

"We look for _centaurs_," Hagrid told him. "They'll know we're there as soon as we go into the Forest, and they know you well enough to not bother to stay hidden and watch. Might be even easier than that."

As he'd been speaking, they'd been walking, but not directly to the trees. They were heading to Hagrid's cottage, and he held them up just long enough to grab his cross bolt.

"Might find _more_ than centaurs, you know…"

Which only made Jack more impatient.

"Do you know roughly where the center of the Forest is?" he asked as they headed out – and now Hagrid's huge ugly dog was walking with them.

"I've never been that far in," Hagrid admitted. "But we'll find it."

"It's a big forest, though…" Sirius told them as the first raindrops started to fall. "A location spell would help – especially if Daniel doesn't stay wherever he was banished to."

Jack shook his head. He would have given an amused snort, but there was nothing funny about what was going on.

"He's moved."

There was no way he'd have stayed in place.

"Who knows what he's run into…" Sam said, shaking her head as well. "There must be all sorts of creatures out there that are dangerous."

Hagrid nodded.

"The rain will keep _some_ of them in lairs, though."

"Hopefully not the centaurs," Teal'c said as they entered the trees.

"Definitely _not_ the centaurs," came a deep voice from practically right beside them.

They all looked over – except Fang, who yelped with surprise – and saw two centaurs standing only twenty feet or so away. Both were large, with dappled colored horse sections, and one had a beard while the other was clean-shaven – or maybe just not old enough to grow a beard, since now that they had a better look at him, he seemed much younger than the one beside him. Jack didn't recognize them, but Hagrid clearly did, because he nodded a greeting to both, and turned to make introductions.

"Barl," he gestured to the older centaur. "And his oldest get, Cle. This is –"

"I know who they are, Hagrid," Barl interrupted, giving the Muggles a brief incline of his head that might have been a bow. "Why are you in the Forest on such a miserable day?"

"We're looking for some help to find a friend," Hagrid told them.

"In the Forest?" Cle asked.

His voice was actually deeper than his sire's.

"The _center_ of the Forest, to be exact," Hagrid said. "We were actually hoping some of your lot might be willing to help."

"Is this friend a wizard?" Barl asked, looking at Jack.

"No."

"Then he is most likely already dead."

"We have to find him," Jack told him. "If you could contact Zip for me, I-"

"Even if you were riding one of us, it would take several hours to reach the area," Barl interrupted. "There are many dangers out here. Especially for nonmagical folk."

"We still must endeavor to locate our friend," Teal'c said. "Without your help, if need be."

"I'll help," Cle told them. "I know the Forest as well as any."

Barl scowled, but didn't say anything, clearly leaving the choice up to his son.

"We will help as well," came yet another new voice, and Jack smiled when he turned and saw that Zip was one of the new arrivals. Along with several others, in all colors. They all carried bows, with quivers of arrows looped over their shoulders. "There is nothing in the Forest that we fear," Zip said as he walked over and offered Jack his hand to pull him up on his back, clearly not willing to waste much time.

Which was fine with Jack.

"We can put a locator spell on Daniel," Minerva said, smiling when Cle offered her his hand and pulled her up onto his back. "The only problem with that is that it will draw attention to him."

"Attention that might kill him," Sirius said as he, too, mounted. "He might be hiding from something."

"Or _lots_ of somethings," Sam said.

"You know the general direction we need to go," Barl said. "Perhaps once we are closer, you can use the spell to pinpoint where, exactly, he is."

"_We_?" Sam asked.

He shrugged, and offered her his hand, easily pulling her onto his back.

"I did not say I _wouldn't_ help. I merely wanted you to understand that the chances are not good for your friend."

"Daniel's been in worse messes," Jack said. "But we've got to find him."

"I'll go back to the library and keep an eye on the others," Hagrid said, knowing full well that while the centaurs were incredibly strong creatures there was no way he'd be able to ride one. "You take Fang with you. He might be able to track Daniel once you get close."

"We'll do that."

The dog didn't look all that pleased to be volunteered, but Jack decided that could have just been his imagination.

"Let's go," Zip said, starting out at a trot to give Jack a chance to balance himself, and then increasing his speed as the underbrush allowed.


	19. Chapter 19

He stirred in his sleep, roused by pain and strange dreams. Nightmares that had him falling off broomsticks that were zooming through the air at speeds that were far, far too fast for Daniel's comfort. There were also giant rocks falling on him, or pushing him backward with irresistible force and flattening him with their crushing weight until he was gasping in pain and fear. Added to those oddities were some even worse visions; Jaffa with wands casting spells at him that he only barely managed to avoid and being chased by flying Goa'uld that would eventually turn into dragons of all sorts and colors, breathing fire at him and attacking him with razor sharp talons and teeth.

He shuddered; hearing a dragon roaring so loud that the only thing that drowned out the sound was the pounding of his heart.

"_Daniel!"_

The voice was Jack's, and even though he couldn't see his friend, he knew from the tone of voice what expression would be on Jack's face if he could. Not anger because he'd done something foolish and managed to get lost, not when Daniel was hurting like he was, but concern, and maybe hopelessness that he would be trying to hide in order to keep Daniel from panicking. Jack was good at keeping Daniel from panicking – even in the worst of situations. He tried to call out to him, but his lungs wouldn't work.

Jack didn't seem to mind, though.

"_Hide, Daniel…" _the voice told him. Jack's voice, strong and confident. The exact opposite of how Daniel felt. "_I'm coming."_

Of course he was. Even alone and injured Daniel knew that he wasn't really alone. Jack was coming. He didn't know where he was, but he'd never be abandoned. There was no doubt – even in Daniel's pain and terror fogged mind – that Jack, Sam and Teal'c were looking for him, and wouldn't rest until they found him. They'd proven that to him more than once.

_"Hide…"_

"Jack…"

The whisper was soft, and the creature that was beside him flicked an ear his direction and then nuzzled him once more. Daniel felt something velvet soft brush against his cheek and neck, and he reacted to that touch by snuggling closer, the warmth of the large body not as important as the feeling of security it provoked. He could hide here. He could wait for Jack and his friends to find him. It comforted him as much as the knowledge that he wasn't alone.

He was still being rained on, but he didn't feel it. He'd already been dragged back down into his dreams, only this time they weren't so violent and he was able to sleep.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Riding a centaur wasn't that hard. Aside from the fact that there is very little to hold on to to keep from falling off – and obviously no reins or saddle – the centaurs had a fairly easy gait and such broad and powerful hindquarters that they weren't all that hard to stay on. Unless of course, they didn't want you on their backs in the first place, most likely.

Jack's grandfather had been a farmer and had had a team of Percherons that he used – mostly for hauling – but Jack had ridden them bareback many times, and Zip was about that same size. But the horses on his grandfather's farm never turned around every now and then and spoke with him.

Being rained on wasn't much fun, though. The rain was cold and coming down steadily, and without a jacket, Jack and the others were all drenched within minutes. Minerva and the others had been wearing robes that were much warmer than the clothes SG-1 had come in, and had eventually conjured cloaks for them all to wear, but by then the damage was done. There wasn't a spell to keep them warm and dry while they were moving – or at least she and the other wizards must not have thought of using one, because although he wasn't really all that cold any more – at least not where the cloak covered, he was definitely wet. And still being rained on.

And worried.

"How much further?"

It was about the tenth time he'd asked Zip and he was surprised that the centaur hadn't bucked him off a long time ago just from annoyance. If Jack was a centaur and an annoying person kept asking him that same question over and over, he might not have been so forgiving. Luckily, Zip must have understood, or was made of a lot more patient material than Jack was, because the answer was always the same and the tone of voice wasn't irritated.

"We're getting there as fast as we can, Jack. Trust me."

He _did_ trust him, too. The centaurs were moving incredibly fast considering the fact that they were continually jumping over fallen logs and whatever else might bar their way, and then pushing branches out of their way – or ducking under the ones that weren't moveable, while warning their passengers to do the same.

It was a fast way to travel, and Jack knew that they'd never have managed any kind of pace without them. Which was why he put up with being wet and getting rained on, because the centaurs were wet and being rained on, too, and they were running. And not complaining.

So Jack just hung on the best he could, and kept his mouth shut – and could tell by the faces of Teal'c and Sam that they were pretty much thinking the same way.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

They weren't in the library more than twenty minutes before Harry finally tossed the book he'd been trying to read aside and looked at his friends.

"We need to help them."

Fred and George Weasley both shook their heads.

"There's nothing we can do."

Harry wasn't so quick to give up.

"We could get our broomsticks and follow-"

"Are you _mad_?" Ron asked. "We're no match for the Forbidden Forest, Harry. You know that."

"We've been in there before."

"Not all the way in like they're doing," George told him. Or maybe it was Fred. Harry had known them years, now, but still had trouble telling them apart – although Ron and the other Weasleys didn't seem to have any trouble.

"There must be _something_ we can do."

Harry hated sitting around waiting.

"You can wait like you were told," Hagrid told them, coming into the library.

They were all on their feet instantly.

"Why aren't you with Jack and Sirius?" Harry asked, worried. Hagrid was the one that knew the forest best. Why had he left them alone?

"We found the centaurs," Hagrid said. "They've agreed to help find Daniel." He gave them a wry shrug. "I'd have gone, but there's no centaur big enough to carry me that long."

"On a broom I could catch up to them."

Hagrid knew arguing wouldn't help. Harry was too stubborn to argue with. Luckily, he didn't need to argue. He knew how to Handle Harry Potter, now. Hagrid looked big and dumb, but he wasn't.

"And what are you going to tell Jack and Sirius when you find them? Providing you didn't get into trouble yourself and end up needing rescued…"

Which brought Harry to a stop, because he'd been told to wait and neither of them would appreciate him coming after them if it meant disobeying them. He could see the look of disgust Jack would give him and the resigned look of annoyance that Sirius would be sporting. Neither were expressions that he wanted to see, and he could feel his cheeks burning at the idea.

"We should do something, though…" he muttered, still rebellious, but sitting down in the chair he'd just vacated.

"You're doing exactly what they need you to do," Hagrid said. "Staying out of trouble so there's that much less for the others to worry about."

Harry sighed.


	20. Chapter 20

It was almost completely dark by the time Zip and the other centaurs came to a stop. The rain was coming down harder than ever and Jack and the other humans had all pretty much scrunched down into their cloaks to avoid getting any wetter than they already were.

"We're here," Zip said, just as Jack realized they'd stopped and had poked his head out from inside his cloak to see what was going on.

"Where?" he asked, looking around. He didn't see much of anything – even if it hadn't been raining.

"Somewhere in this area is the center of the Forest," the centaur replied.

_"Daniel!"_

Jack's bellow startled everyone, and Zip scowled.

"That's not wise, Jack."

"He's not going to know we're here if we don't call him…"

The centaur shook his head, and the other centaurs were looking around cautiously, their bows in their hands, now, and arrows ready to be knocked.

"There are many dangerous creatures in this area of the forest, Jack."

"Like what?" Teal'c asked, curiously, wondering what could be so dangerous that the centaurs would look a little nervous.

"Wyverns, for one…" Cle told them.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"A small creature," Minerva told them. "Like a dragon."

"A _dragon_?"

"A _small_ one," Sirius said, trying to sound reassuring. He had his wand out, however, and he was looking around carefully from his advantage point on the back of the centaur.

"It is still dangerous, however."

Teal'c's statement wasn't really a question, but Zip nodded.

"We will want to be careful – and _don't_ get off our backs unless we say otherwise."

"We can outrun or outfight anything in this place," Barl said.

"So how do we find Daniel?" Jack asked, a little frustrated at being held in place.

"We should be able to track him," Zip said, looking around at the ground. "We just need to cross his trail." He looked at the other centaurs. "We need to split up and start looking. Daniel Jackson could be hurt – or worse."

Jack didn't even like the idea of _worse_. He looked over at Minerva.

"You mentioned a spell that could help us find him…?"

"There are several that could work," she told him, holding up a hand to stop the centaurs from separating just yet. "We could light up the sky around his location – but like we mentioned before, that could give away his location and –"

"And lead one of those dragons right to him before we find him," Sam said.

Minerva nodded.

"Exactly."

"What about a _willow wisp_ spell?" Molly Weasley asked. "That would lead us to him without giving away his position until we're close enough to him to make sure nothing can hurt him."

Zip looked over at Minerva.

"What is this spell?"

"It's a locater spell," she told him, thoughtfully. "We set the spell to find Daniel and it tracks him with a small light that we can follow…"

"Right to him?" Jack asked.

She shrugged.

"We should be able to."

"Is it something _anyone_ can follow?" Sam asked. "Or just wizards?"

"Anyone can see the light," Minerva said. "But we're going to need one of you three to be the focus point on the spell."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Because none of them know Daniel well enough to tell the spell who to look for," Teal'c guessed.

Minerva nodded.

"Exactly right, Teal'c."

"You may use me," Teal'c told her.

Arthur held his hand up before Minerva could point her wand at the Jaffa.

"You might want to use Jack or Sam," he said, quickly. "Our magic doesn't always work with Teal'c."

"Good point," Jack said. "He blew up the wand shop in the village."

"Sam?" Minerva said, pointedly. "Think of Daniel."

Carter nodded, and Minerva pointed the wand at her. There was a slight flick to the wand, but the Headmistress of Hogwart's didn't say anything that Jack or the others could hear. A moment later a small light shot of the end of McGonagall's wand and hesitated in the middle of them. Then it moved silently towards Carter, hovered for a minute and started moving off into the darkness.

"Don't lose track of it," Zip told them as he headed the same direction as the light. "And stay together."

Obviously other things might be interested in following the light as well, and the centaurs were well equipped to take care of anything that might come out of the darkness – although most of the larger creatures were almost certainly holed up somewhere against the rain.

Hopefully.

They moved quickly, always following the light, which sometimes wavered a little but never completely vanished. Zip led the way through several thick patches of underbrush, around one tree that Jack could have swore actually seemed to reach out to try and grab them, and across a river that was so deep the centaurs ended up swimming it and any area that had been dry on those riding them were now drenched as well in the cold water.

Twenty minutes later, the light vanished behind a thicket of trees and brush that grew tightly together and when Zip moved some of the branches out of the way and walked past them, Jack realized that it wasn't raining quite as hard as it had been outside of the clearing they just entered.

He heard the startled snort the same time Zip came to a halt – which was the exact same time that the light came to a stop as well. It flared, almost as if it were excited – and Jack was shocked to see a creature coming up off the ground. A creature that glowed in the light of the willow whatever spell.

There was another snort, and this time it was a definite challenge. The head swung toward the centaurs – who had all followed Zip and the light into the clearing – and there was no mistaking the challenge when the unicorn lowered its head, pointing its horn right at the group. And no mistaking the silent form that was sprawled between the creature's forelegs.

"Uh, oh…"


	21. Chapter 21

It probably wasn't a good sign that Zip seemed to be tense. Or that he hadn't put his bow down. For that matter, the arrow was knocked, now, and he and the other centaurs all had weapons trained on the animal in the center of the clearing. Jack wasn't worried about that, though. His eyes were only on Daniel, and in the light of the willow wisp spell, there was no mistaking the fact that his friend was bloody and drenched – and unconscious.

At least Jack hoped fervently that he was only unconscious.

He started to move to dismount, but Zip felt him shift and sent a shiver through his horse part, shaking his head at the same time.

"Don't…" he muttered, very gently – as if trying not to startle the animal in front of them. "Stay where you are."

"It's a _unicorn_…" Jack told him, just as softly. "Aren't they supposed to be gentle?"

Every story _he'd_ ever heard about unicorns (not that there'd been all _that_ many) had mentioned them as the symbol of purity, innocence and the epitome of gentleness. Of course, none of them had mentioned that the thing was at least as big as the centaurs were – at least as big as they would have been if they were strictly horses, anyway – and the horn sticking out from the animal's forehead had to be two feet long, tapering to a very sharp looking point.

"They're as dangerous as anything in the Forest, Jack," Zip told him.

"Do you think it hurt Daniel?"

"No. It's a male."

Like that meant anything to Jack. He turned to look at Carter and Teal'c, but both of them were staring at the unicorn as well, and it was clear that neither had any idea what to do to get Daniel away from it.

_**Mine**_

Jack was almost knocked off Zip's back by the force of the voice in his head. It was deep, masculine and laced with what he was pretty sure was suspicion. Certainly the creature was watching them intently. There was no doubt in his mind that the unicorn was the one who had spoken.

"It _talks_!" Sam couldn't help the shock in her exclamation, and was too surprised to keep her voice down.

The unicorn's head snapped up, its ears going back in a classic position of equine annoyance.

Barl hushed her, even as he back off a pace to get Sam out of the creature's line of sight, letting Zip and Jack have that dubious honor.

"What do we do?" Teal'c asked, his voice much softer than Carter's had been. "A spell, perhaps?"

Zip shook his head.

"Unicorns are immune to magic, same as we are."

"We don't want to kill it," Molly said, just as entranced as the other humans were. Of course, the wizards were far more familiar with unicorns than the Muggles in the group, but only the centaurs truly seemed to grasp the danger they were in.

"I doubt we _can_ kill it," Zip told them, still watching the unicorn.

"But Voldemort killed unicorns in the first book…" Carter said.

"No. He killed _one_," Minerva corrected. "And if anything, that should tell you how powerful he was – even as weak as he was at the time."

The unicorn snorted.

_**The Dark One is no more**_

Which meant that not only could it speak to them, it could also understand them. And was eavesdropping on them. Which made it that much more dangerous as far as Jack was concerned. But he needed to get Daniel away from those dangerous feet. If the thing stepped on the unconscious archeologist, it could do a lot of damage. He remembered reading somewhere that someone had described a unicorn as more of a goat like creature than a horse, with cloven hooves. The creature Jack was looking at was stark white and as much a horse as the Lone Ranger's Silver had been. If you could ignore the horn, that was.

But there was no ignoring the horn.

"Let me down, Zip…" Jack told the centaur, sliding down off his back before Zip could stop him.

The horn shifted at the movement, the unicorn turning its head so that Jack was the primary target for its most obvious weapon. Zip turned his hindquarters to put them between Jack and the unicorn – which was a true testament to the kind of friend he was – and scowled at the leader of SG-1.

"Are you out of your mind? Get back up on my back before he decides to kill you."

"If it can talk, it can be reasoned with," Jack replied. "We need to get Daniel back before he bleeds to death."

**_Mine_**

Jack scowled, looking at the unicorn from over Zip's broad back, since the centaur hadn't moved from his previous position. He didn't think the unicorn would be willing to be reasoned with and definitely didn't trust his friend to the creature.

"He's not yours."

_**I found it**_

"And if he was a dollar, I'd say you could keep him. But he's not. He's my friend and he's hurt."

_**Mine**_

The single-mindedness of the unicorn annoyed Jack, but Zip shuddered his horse end once more to get his friend's attention. Even though Jack wasn't actually sitting on him, there was no missing the motion. He looked over at the centaur – and the others who had moved to circle him without him even noticing. Apparently none of the centaurs trusted the unicorn.

"He's not going to give up a prize like a human male, Jack…" Zip told him. "Not without a fight."

"What? Why would he possibly want a human male?" Sam asked, curiously. "It's a _male_ unicorn, right? From everything I've heard, it's the female unicorns that are so enamored of human males…"

"Exactly," Barl agreed. "Having Daniel here will attract a female to this area. A potential mate for our white friend there…"

More than one, maybe… because it is injured

The unicorn lowered his head and nuzzled Daniel's inert body. Jack started forward, concerned, but even from the distance they were at he could see that the creature was being careful.

Small comfort.

"He's hurt," Jack said, knowing from the way the unicorn was replying that it could hear him just fine. "We need to get him to a doctor."

Or _Fawkes_, he realized, wondering where the phoenix was.

_**I need him. I will not return him**_

Well, crap


	22. Chapter 22

Jack sighed, but didn't get back up on Zip's back.

"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked. "We don't want to fight it."

"I'm not going to let it kill Daniel," Jack told him, frustrated, looking around Zip at the still form sprawled between the unicorn's forelegs.

"We just have to figure out something it wants more than him," Minerva replied, calmly.

"A female," Teal'c said.

"We don't have one of those," Zip said. "And there isn't much chance of one coming by in this storm. They tend to hole up in sheltered areas when it rains, since there's nothing worse than being dirty or having a tangled mane and tail."

Since _he_ had a tail himself, Jack supposed the centaur would know. And the unicorns didn't even have hands to brush themselves out. Or each other, since he was pretty sure Zip couldn't reach his own tail.

"What else do they like?" Jack asked the centaurs.

Zip shrugged.

"I didn't even know they can _talk_," he admitted. The others looked just as chagrined, so none of them must have known, either.

_**Nothing is better than a female**_

Jack couldn't fault the unicorn with his line of thought, just the means to the end.

"We need to get him to a _doctor_," he told the unicorn – again. "He's hurt."

The front hoof stamped impatiently – close enough to Daniel that Jack was worried he was going to get stepped on.

_**Mine**_

And that was pretty much all it took for Jack to lose his temper.

"He's not yours, damn it. He's mine."

The horn swung around to face him once more, but now the unicorn was looking directly at him, his ears pricked forward and his head up in what looked like a fairly aggressive stance. Not knowing all that much about unicorns he wasn't positive, but the creaure's next words told him he was right.

_**You'd fight me for him?**_

"No," Zip said.

"Yes," Jack replied just as quickly.

The centaur scowled at the unicorn.

"He's human and has no weapons."

_**He is a wizard**_

"No."

**_He rides your kind_**

"Which doesn't make him a wizard."

The unicorn was clearly looking for a fight, now. He looked at the others, undoubtedly sizing them up.

_**He may choose a champion**_

Jack already knew that Zip didn't think the whole group of them could take down the creature, so it was hardly giving them much of a chance. Before he could step forward to say anything, though, there was a shower of sparks that were almost blinding in the dim light beyond the clearing and a defiant scream as Fawkes suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came swooping in on broad wings that seemed to be literally on fire.

He was startled – as were the others – but the unicorn actually shifted, stumbling when he accidentally stepped on Daniel, who groaned softly but didn't stir beyond that.

Fawkes came to land on Jack's shoulder – which wasn't something he'd ever done before – and the phoenix's claws, which were wicked sharp he knew, somehow managed to gain purchase without doing more than leaving an indentation in Jack's skin through the heavy cloak he was wearing. With sparks now cascading down Jack's side (false sparks, luckily, since he didn't want to spontaneously combust) the phoenix screamed again at the unicorn, who lowered his horn, now, threateningly.

_**You have a Fire Bird?**_

Jack hesitated, but finally shook his head. He couldn't claim the phoenix. Not in the manner that the unicorn was asking, anyway.

"He's not mine. We're friends, though. Like your hostage there is my friend."

It wasn't _exactly_ the same, but the last thing he needed was to waste time trying to explain the difference to a randy horse.

_**There is great magic in a Fire Bird**_

Which was saying something coming from a unicorn.

Jack nodded, though.

"He's the only one of his kind, I'm told."

_**Truly?**_

Fawkes shifted, rustling his feathers and dropping more sparks.

"That's what they say."

Having the bird on his shoulder – and Fawkes didn't weigh anything near what Jack would have thought he did – was keeping the unicorn interested, and while he didn't want it to come down to violence (especially with Daniel on the ground in the middle of things) he had a feeling that a bird that could catch things on fire might come in handy in a fight.

"A phoenix feather is a rare and magical item," Minerva said from behind Jack. "Compared to a human male – even an _injured_ one – I would think a potential mate would much rather have a token she can carry around with her."

Jack could have kissed her. The unicorn turned his head and looked over Zip and Jack to Minerva, watching her speculatively as he clearly thought about that. Then he looked back at Fawkes and O'Neill.

_**The Fire Bird can be your Champion**_

"No."

Jack had no intention of letting Fawkes fight the unicorn and maybe getting killed. He didn't know why exactly Dumbledore had talked the phoenix into looking to Jack when Dumbledore had died, but he wasn't going to repay that by letting the bird put itself in danger for him. No more than he would have let the others.

The unicorn tossed his head, his mane flaring a little when the breeze picked up just then.

_**We must battle**_

"You want a feather, right?"

_**Yes**_

"And if you have one, I can have my friend?"

_**Yes**_

He actually sounded almost eager.

"Fine."

Jack turned – carefully so Fawkes wouldn't stab him to keep his perch on his shoulder – and looked at Sirius.

"By my fireplace at my house is a small metal basket. There are several feathers there that Fawkes has managed to lose in the past months. I leave them there in case they somehow decide to catch fire and I don't want them all over my house. Can you pop over to my house and get a few?"

Sirius nodded. He knew Jack's house better than the others, which was – he was sure – why Jack had asked him to do it in the first place.

"Why more than one?"

"Because he probably saved Daniel's life," Jack replied. "It's worth more than a single feather."

The unicorn was obviously listening in, because he snorted hopefully, watching them with interest.

_**You'd give me more than one?**_

"Will you let me check on my friend while we wait?"

The horn lowered slightly, and the unicorn looked suspicious.

_**Not you. One of the females**_

"Carter?"

Sam nodded and slid off Cle's back.

"Are you sure, Jack?" Sirius asked. "I don't-"

_**I will not hurt her**_

Zip nodded.

"She's safe enough – although I'd advise the rest of us stay back for now."

"Sirius?"

"On my way, Jack."

There was a loud crack behind them and the young wizard was gone.


	23. Chapter 23

Sam hesitated only for a moment before sidling along first Cle, then Barl and then finally Zip's body to stand alone in front of the unicorn, who watched her with his head up high enough that the horn was well out of the way. Probably a sign of truce, she decided, like holding a gun away from the person who had only moments before been a target.

"Careful, Major," O'Neill told her, watching the unicorn as suspiciously as he was watching them.

"I'm fine, sir…"

She hoped she sounded a lot more confident than she felt.

_**I will not hurt her**_

Carter had to believe that, because there wasn't much choice in the matter. Not when Daniel was still sprawled so lifelessly in front of her. Watching him, she turned her attention from the unicorn and hurried over to crouch down beside the archeologist.

"Daniel?"

He was cold to her touch, but he did groan softly when she ran her hand along his side, looking for injuries. In the faint light of the willow wisp that still hovered above the unicorn – or Daniel – she could see the bloody bandage on his leg, and scratches of all sorts on his head – not to mention what looked like a smudge of dirt along his forehead that was almost certainly a bruise. Especially since smudges of dirt don't bleed.

Carter pulled the cloak off and covered Daniel with it, wrapping it around him as snugly as she could to warm him.

"Hang in there, Daniel," she murmured to him.

"How is he, Major?"

She sat up a little and wiped her drenched hair out of her eyes and turned to her CO.

"He's in shock, Colonel."

The unicorn shifted, moving to stand over her to prevent the rain from beating down on her, and Sam unthinkingly reached out and steadied herself against his front foreleg. And immediately felt a surge go through her at the touch. It was a lot like being shocked, only it didn't hurt and it was a lot more intense.

"Oh, my…"

The unicorn snorted, tossing his head.

_**Now you know the attraction the females will have for your friend**_

She frowned, rubbing her hand, which was still tingling. It felt amazing, and she actually had to resist the urge to reach out and touch him again.

"What?"

_**What you felt is nothing compared to what I did.**_

"Is that why you wanted to keep Daniel?"

The creature snorted again.

_**Not to touch him. He is male, and has no affect on me. On a female, however…**_

"Wow…"

There really wasn't that much more she could say to that, but she could definitely understand the appeal – if what the unicorn told her was true, and he really didn't have any reason to lie. She was still tingling from the touch. Instead, she turned her attention back to Daniel, worried about the mangled remains of his pant leg and the bloody mess of a bandage. When she pulled the makeshift bandage away, however, she decided he'd done a fair job of handling the leg wound. It didn't seem to be bleeding too badly, at any rate.

The contact seemed to jar Daniel more awake as well, and he opened his eyes.

"Sam…?"

The whisper was more of a groan and ended in a gasp of pain, but it was an indication that while Daniel was hurt, he at least knew the voices of those around him. He'd managed to lose his glasses, and in the dim light she was pretty sure he couldn't see her all that well.

Carter pressed her hand against his cheek, gently, leaning over him to block the rain.

"Easy, Daniel."

He tried to sit up, and almost immediately fell back into the mud with a groan.

"Where's the dragon?"

"It's gone." _Dragon_? There'd be time later to ask that, though. For now, she simply gathered him into her arms to warm him up since he was shuddering so hard his teeth were chattering. "You're safe, okay? Just hold still for a minute. We're going to get you to a doctor as soon as we can."

"Where's Jack? Is he mad at me?"

She frowned, shifting a little – but being careful to avoid the unicorn. That kind of touch could definitely become addictive.

"He's close," she told him, checking him for fever. "Why would you ask that?"

The archeologist managed a smile.

"I touched something…" he shivered again. "_Had_ to touch it…"

Carter smiled.

"Don't worry about it, Daniel. He touched it, too."

Daniel chuckled painfully, but before he could reply to that, there was a loud crack in the darkness outside the clearing, and then movement near the centaurs. Sirius had returned with the basket.

"I brought them all," he told Jack, handing it over.

The unicorn watched with interest as O'Neill picked out two of the longest and most complete feathers in the basket. They were the same scarlet and red as Fawkes, but they didn't shimmer with false (and not so false) sparks like the phoenix's feathers that were trailing down Jack's arm did.

"How are you going to give these to a potential mate?" Jack asked curiously. "You don't have any hands."

"Like this," Minerva said, waving her wand silently at the feathers in his hand. There was a gentle glow and suddenly the feathers were neatly attached to delicately braided silver chains that ended in silver clamps that could be easily manipulated by the creature's teeth.

The unicorn snorted, and Jack decided there was a lot of satisfaction in that sound.

"We have a deal?" he asked.

_**Yes**_

The creature deliberately stepped away from Daniel and Sam, and Jack handed the basket back to Sirius, taking just the two now decorated feathers with him. Ignoring the two on the ground for the moment – although he was well aware of their location in comparison to himself – he went over to the unicorn, with Fawkes still on his shoulder.

"Where do you want them?" he asked, unwilling to lay them down in the mud.

The unicorn – which was even more impressive close up, Jack decided – studied the feathers for a moment, clearly deciding.

_**Clip them in my mane**_

He reached up and did just that, and when the feathers came in contact with the white hide of the unicorn's neck they both flared up as if they were still connected to Fawkes. When Jack pulled his hand away, they continued to light up, sending sparks down the unicorn's neck and shoulder.

"It's the magic of the unicorn reacting to the magic of the phoenix feather," Jack heard Barl tell the others. "There's powerful magic in a unicorn's touch."

_**Fair deal**_

The unicorn turned and walked off without looking back, disappearing into a nearby cave that Jack hadn't even noticed before. In the darkness of that cave, he could still see the slight flickering of the feathers that he'd been given, but decided that a creature as powerful as the unicorn obviously was didn't need to worry about things tracking him down by the light given off.

Fawkes made an odd crooning noise and launched himself off Jack's shoulder – the heavy cloak the only thing that saved him from having his skin and muscles mangled by the sharp talons – and went over to where Sam and Daniel were. Jack and the others were right behind him, but Carter was already exposing the injured leg to the phoenix by the time they reached them.

"How is he doing?" Zip asked, leaning over and watching as Fawkes landed beside Daniel and started leaking tears on the ragged looking leg wound.

Sam smiled as it started closing on its own, amazed and relieved at the same time.

"He'll be all right."


	24. Chapter 24

_**Epilogue**_

"_Achoo!" _

"Bless you."

O'Neill scowled and reached for the wet washrag that he'd put on the end table beside his recliner.

"Thanks."

Since it felt like his brains had just exploded out his nose, it wasn't hard to understand that his reply was a little less than sincere, but Sam didn't mind. Or she was too miserable to allow it to show.

Proof of that misery was on the other end table – the one that was on the other side of the sofa that she was curled up, wrapped in not one, but two, comforters – in the form of a huge pile of rumpled and damp tissues.

"You know why they say that right?" Daniel asked, watching from the other end of the sofa where he, too, was wrapped in blankets and looking miserable.

Jack leaned his head back into the cushion on the back of his chair and closed his eyes.

"Yes."

_Everyone_ knew that.

"Why do they say it?" Harry asked, curiously.

Okay, not _everyone_, Jack amended silently.

"Because they believed that when you sneezed your soul was unprotected," Daniel told him. "So they'd say God bless you to protect you until the moment passed."

"Oh."

Since he'd heard many things that were far more odd than that Harry didn't argue about it. Besides, he knew by now that if Daniel said something, he was almost always right – at least when it came to _that_ kind of thing.

Jack opened his eyes and gave both of them a pained look.

"I really don't feel like listening to a lecture on the early superstitions of mankind, Daniel," he told him. "If you guys want to finish this, why don't you and Harry go to _your_ place?"

He wasn't all _that_ sure why they'd all ended up at his house, anyway. All three of them were suffering from nasty colds – coming on in the aftermath of their excursion into the Forbidden Forest – but none of them had been stuck in the infirmary. Fraiser had told all three of them that they could suffer in the peace and quiet of their own homes. Of course, she'd also left strict instructions that they were to call if the colds got worse, or f they developed new symptoms.

"He _can't_ go to his place," Sam said, smiling despite the fact that her throat was sore and her nose was running. "He likes to cuddle on the couch and his is cluttered with books and other stuff."

The _other stuff_ were things that had been brought back from various other worlds that weren't so dangerous that they needed to stay at the SGC, but which were odd enough that Daniel had taken them home to spend more time studying them. And as Carter had suggested, they did seem to end up all over the place as more came home every time he had a chance, and very few ever left.

"If your lazy bird was _half_ the mythological creature he's supposed to be, he'd take care of our colds so I wouldn't feel the need to cuddle on your couch," Daniel said, sniffing mightily.

Jack looked over at Fawkes, who was pointedly ignoring the archeologist. Apparently the bird could heal any wound, but a simple cold was beyond it – or it just didn't _want_ to heal them. Either way it didn't matter. They'd caught _colds_, but they weren't bleeding to death, and they weren't dying. They'd get better in a week or so – especially with Harry and various other wizards popping in and out to keep them stocked with hot soup and various other healing fare that Molly Weasley insisted on preparing for them to make sure none of them were starving.

"He fixed your leg _and_ your head," Jack told him, settling back into the pillow he had against the back of his chair – a wonderful pillow that Minerva had sent to him through Harry. It was magical, of course; containing a spell that kept it wonderfully warm on one side and refreshingly cool on the other so Jack could have whichever condition he desired at any particular hour or day. Add to that the fact that it could be fluffy or firm and smelled so good he refused to let anyone else even look at it funny. "You should be more grateful."

_Jack_ certainly was – although he tended to make it more of a joke to fend off the fact that Daniel really had been badly injured and might not have survived to get to a doctor – certainly not Fraiser – without Fawkes' amazing healing tears.

Daniel sighed and looked over at the boy who was sitting on the raised area by Jack's fireplace.

"See what I have to put up with, Harry?"

Harry grinned.

"He's right, Daniel. You _should_ be more grateful."

Harry had been healed by Fawkes when he'd been certain he was going to die from the basilisk venom, so _he_ had first hand knowledge of just how helpful Fawkes could be.

Daniel scowled, pulling his blankets up over his head to effectively end the conversation – especially since he was losing on all fronts. Inside the blankets they all heard a muffled sneeze.

Sam smiled.

"_Gesundheit_."

The reply was a barely audible thank you, but Daniel didn't poke his head back out of the blankets and Carter looked over at Harry, her expression amused, despite her headache.

"Do you know if Teal'c spoke with Sirius, yet?"

"About going to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes."

Harry shrugged, looking a little uncertain.

"Mr. Weasley doesn't think it's a very good idea…"

"He's not the only one," Jack pointed out. "They _did_ mention what happened at that wand shop in Hoghead?"

"_Hogsmeade_," Sam corrected.

"Whatever." Jack lifted his head from his marvelous pillow and looked over at Harry. "Did they?"

Harry nodded.

"That's one of the reasons that Mr. Weasley doesn't think it's a good idea. Probably the _biggest_ reason."

"Probably," Carter agreed. "But who'd be the one to tell him no?"

Harry grimaced, and then his green eyes turned cheerful and he shrugged once more.

"Not me."

"Not me," Sam said, quickly, before her CO could even _look_ at her.

"_Not me_," Daniel said from under the blankets, proving that he was still listening to the conversation even if he had no plans to join in.

Jack scowled, and then shrugged, too.

"It's Sirius' problem," he said, leaning back into his pillow. "If I'm too sick to go back and fly on brooms again anytime soon, then I'm _way_ too sick to tell Teal'c he can't try again with the wand thing."

"And maybe by the time you get better he'll have forgotten?" Harry suggested.

None of them answered that, but that was answer enough, really.

"Never mind..."

_**The End**_

_So! Sorry about the slow posting on this story. I really did intend to get it out faster than that. Hope you liked it, and if you didn't I'm sorry!_


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